About Us

Welcome to Dovehouse Farm Barns. We have two barns here that we have converted into Holiday Accommodation, giving some of our redundant farm buildings a new lease of life.

The Ploughshed is a stone barn, built in 1899 by farm labour, using stone that was found in the fields on this farm. It was originally used to store machinery, but the low roof and mud floor meant that more recently it was only used as a wood store. When all the wood had been removed, against the back wall we found a horse-drawn plough which must have been sitting there for over 50 years! The wood around it must also have been sitting there for that length of time!

The Hayloft was built of London Brick during the 1880’s, and was designed as a 6-horse stable. In 1969 it was converted into a milking parlour for 80 cows (milking 8 at a time), but was no longer useful when we gave up the dairy herd in 1979. For another three years after that it housed the house cow, who was milked with the bucket system, then it was used for storage. The first summer after The Hayloft had been converted into Holiday Accommodation the swallows returned looking for their nests, they would tap at the windows trying to get in. They soon moved into our many other barns and continue to spend the summer swooping around the farm catching insects.

We are a family-run, working farm, with 100 acres of grass which we use to make hay and haylage, and 200 acres of arable land which is used to grow wheat, barley and beans. In the past, we have had a dairy herd, and more recently we had a breeding herd of cows to raise beef cattle, but now we have no stock, though sheep from the neighbouring farm come to graze the grass during the winter. The Baker family has been farming here since the 1943 and Chris Baker is the third generation of his family to farm this land. George, his father, moved here with his family when he was 11 years old, and remembered hand-milking the cows in the Stalls, and working the land with horse-drawn implements. He also saw Land Girls working on the farm during the war, and Prisoners-of-War being kept at Tythrop.

Please remember that we are a working farm, and a farmyard is a dangerous place and so it out of bounds to all guests. You have the decked area outside each cottage and the small field next to The Ploughshed for your use. At certain times of year there are a lot of tractors and other large vehicles driving around the buildings, especially during the busy time of harvest, and these may occasionally be early in the morning or late at night. We apologise for any noise or inconvenience, but when the weather is good we need to get the work done.