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Farming family Ann and Charles Carter are looking forward to retirement after putting their farm on the market for a cool £2 million.
The couple, who live at Middle farm is Betchcott, near Church Stretton have been part of the local scene for over 50 years.
But a change in their lifestyles has led them to make the decision to sell up.
The Shropshire Star’s Andy Richardson was on hand to find out more about their slice of Shropshire.
16 Comments
They’ve done ok for themselves despite all the “problems” farmers have.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’ve never seen a poor farmer.
I agree the amount of farmers claiming poverty and claiming badgers are affacting standards of living.
All live on property worth upwards of 2million.
I have never seen a “poor” farmer either.
i say fair play to them. i come from a family that has family who own a farm and its not as easy and flourishing as people think. Farming is not a 9-5 job its a livelihood and its 24 hours 7 days a week. My family members for years never had holidays or breaks because there was too much to do and not something you could go away and leave with animals and land to see to. If these people cant enjoy their retirement years and sell their property which they have lived in for many years then whats the point in even living. No doubt they have worked long and hard for it and now they should reep some benefits from all that time spent farming. Good luck to them.
In response to s smith (sic): if your family had run its business properly, they would have been able to enjoy vacations. Too much work to do! Strewth! Pay someone to look after the farm for a week or so. Thank god farmers aren’t involved in rocket science!
Mr Peasbody - you could run their farm for a week couldnt you, seeing as you know it all!
Dont comment on an industry you know NOTHING about.
UMM we are a farming family and we manage to go on holiday, its called having friends and family!!!!
I quite agree Suzanne. My dad has farmed for years and yes farm land, machinery, livestock is all worth money but that’s just it, the money is all tied up in a farmers living. My dad worked his socks off 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year. Even as young children we didn’t get the luxury of spending time with our dad on Christmas day even, never mind regular holidays.
And as for your comment, Mr Peasbody, regarding paying someone to do the work, would you be willing to then pay for the holiday because unless you’ve not thought about what you are saying then surely you would realise a simple holiday away would cost a farmer twice the amount it would cost a person who is not running their own business. Farm labour isn’t the cheapest.
Nobody forces farmers to be farmers
If you are not happy with the hours and holidays
then leave and get a 9-5 job in a factory and sell the farm on to someone who would LOVE to do that job.
Otherwise stop bleating about hard luck stories
The majority of people are worse off than farmers so think how lucky you are.
yet again we are on the debate on farmers, as shropshire is a big farming county you wouldnt think it with all the moaning that some people do! typical towners that dont see what happens in the countryside! stick to your 9-5 jobs and leave them alone!
peace!
oh and well done to the couple after living/working there for 50 years i think they deserve it!
Work hard,take risk, make money , sell business , retire.
Seems reasonable to me ; or has New Labour created a generation who wish ill fortune on anyone richer than them?
Suzanne - Well Said. Too many people who comment on this website talk about things they have NO experience of at all.
Armchair experts.
I have just read with horror the narrow-minded views of some peopleon this thread!
H St John peasbody - you’ve never seen a poor farmer in your life! I grew up on a small run family farm we had to sell up because we jst could not make ends meet despite all of us working 24-7 practically. I also knew of numerous farmers nearby who committed suicide due to financial worries and farmers still remain in some of the top figures of suicides (usually due to finances) so how dare you sit there and type your narrow minded comments when you quite obviously have no knowledge or understanding of the farming community at all.
Maybe a farming bootcamp would do you some good and give us all some peace from your ridiculous comments!
I come from a long, long line of farm workers and every time I see farmers moaning about their situation it sickens me to the core. We are constantly reminded by these people that they are hard done by and that they are the moral guardians of the countryside, well frankly having seen the way that many have conducted their business over the many years I have to say that they are indeed the cause of many of the troubles that rural communities currently face.
Rural England is in a pretty bad state at the moment when all is said and done. House prices are particularly bad in rural villages and because of the low wages available in rural employment many have been forced to look elswhere to live and work. It may be used as an excuse that the farm owners cannot currently afford to pay a reasonable wage but when has this been any different? The truth is that when the big foot and mouth outbreak hit the uk it wasn’t the farmers that suffered the most, it was the people who relied on the farms for employment. Compensation was never paid to the people hit hardest, the farm workers. Their livelihood was taken away because of the movement restrictions and in many cases their employment was never renewed after the ‘all clear’ was sounded. They were forced to ‘retrain’ and take on industrialised, un-skilled work because the farming community failed to ensure they were supported and reintroduced into what they were skilled to do.
I was fortunate enough to be told before I left school that there was no future left in rural Britain by my Father, a very skilled herdsman and farm worker who was failed by the community he had worked for and with his entire life. As such I found work elsewhere and I’m glad I did.
So you’ll have to excuse me if I seem bitter and hard towards the farm owners out there, but you see I’ve seen first hand how it’s operated over the years and I know that much of what is concieved by the general public isn’t far off the mark.
I’m pleased for and admire the Carters for the decision they have made in selling their farm after 50 years faming. It is very difficult to come to a decision like this after the farm has been in the family for such a long time. I speak from personal experience having sold my farm recently.
As for the other nagative and bitter and ill informed comments that have come in in response to this article all I would say is if you have been in the same position as the Carters have then you will be qualified to make a well informed comment, so until that time comes let the Carters sell their farm and take a well earned rest and enjoy the rest of their lives away from difficulties and drudge of farming which they so richly deserve.
In response to the comment that if farmers paid someone to look after their farm whilst taking a week’s holiday it would cost them twice as much - they are called STAFF or farm labourers. Any business, even farmers, can employ people so that the principals and their families can have a break. Farming is no different from any other business in that it needs to be efficient and effective in the modern world. We no longer have miners, shoe makers, ship workers, or small corner shops. What makes farmers think they are entitled to exist in a different reality from the rest of the world. Spare us the bleating farmers and their false claims of being “custodians of the countryside”. Most of the investment I have ever seen in the countryside has come from “townies” who actually can do the maths to make it work, and without a penny of tax payers funding. The best thing that will happen to British farming in the next ten years will be the demise of the old, outdated, and unwanted farming fossils. Even their younger families should rejoice that will be spared the years of pointless drudgery. Thank god as well that thousands of animals will be spared their cruel and calculated ill treatment. Not just the cows and sheep, but the birdlife insect life, and wild mammal life that is maimed and killed every year by brutal ill-thinking farmers and their lack of understanding of the land in their fields and hedgerows. Good riddance to the lot of them. The more the merrier, the quicker the better !