The Team

The farm is run by Eastbrook Farm Partnership, comprised of my daughter Sophie, her husband Dai, Henry Stoye, and myself. Henry is generally more interested in crops and machines than animals – without Henry the place would grind to a halt. No problem is insurmountable once he has deliberated in his idiosyncratic manner. Sophie and Dai run all the livestock here, they love all things cattle and grass! Sophie also splits her time with her veterinary practice. Their son Bob, who’s starting young at 1, can often be found helping out! He’s a very welcome visitor on the farm, especially popular in the office.

In the arable team is Daz, who once was the fastest sprayer man in the West, but is now reformed, loves ploughing and driving his vintage car. He’s been here since 1984, on and off – I sacked him once, and he ran away to Africa another time (it’s a long story), but he keeps coming back for more. Then there’s Harvey who also left, only to come back for more. He assists with all things arable; from silage to ploughing, he spends most of his time with the tractors.

Clive, our man that can, loves birds of prey and indeed all wildlife; in an ideal world he would spend most of his time planting hedges and making habitats but needs to keep repairs and fencing on track…a never-ending task! He also helps transporting the livestock and anything else that might need doing. Then there’s David, who looks after the pigs. This is probably the best job in the world in the summer, and tough through the winter months when the ground gets wet, and they are working in wind and rain all day long. He is also the assistant herdsman at Cues Dairy and helps with the youngstock too. Rachel, accompanied by Luna, her Basset Hound, helps to look after the pigs too. She also looks after all the calves and youngstock on the farm, which gets very busy in the spring.

We have two wonderful herds people, Lily-Rose and Danny who look after the Cues and Starveall dairy herds. They are all hands on deck milking, calving, and making sure the dairy herds are fit and well. It’s a never-ending job keeping the cattle sound, clean, healthy, and most importantly happy.

Pete, more commonly known as Pete the Veg Man, unsurprisingly manages the growing of our vegetables and salads. These are sold in our farm shop and used in the pub kitchen, they’re delicious! Managing the agroforestry we have Ben, who is also head of Horticulture at the Soil Association. The agroforestry is responsible for producing the botanicals for our award-winning gin. We are also trialling other exciting trees, even growing Almonds! He is ably assisted by Paul who keeps the agroforestry ticking over and has the lengthy and tiring task of harvesting the delightful fruits.  

In the farm office we have the amazing Sue, who keeps us all in check and organised, the hardest job of it all, and juggles a million balls.