We are Richard and Nicola and we live across the yard from the CL site in the barn and former stables which we converted ourselves. Working shire horses were once stabled here and we used to lamb the sheep in what is now our guest bedroom! We live with our son, Callum, who is following in the farming footsteps of his Dad and Great Grandad, and our trio of mad Springer Spaniels, Connie, Reba and Zak.
Whenever we manage to get away from work we both like nothing more than getting outside for a good long walk.....and I mean long! In 2017 we walked the Dales Way - 82 miles in 6 days - and last year we completed the Cleveland Way which ended up being 105 miles in 9 days.
Skybarn Farm is small by modern standards - 165 acres of arable land growing a mixture of wheat, barley, beans, oilseed rape and sugar beet. Richard’s grandfather bought the farm in the 1920s, his mum grew up here and Richard spent his school holidays helping his uncles and aunts with their farm work, learning to drive a tractor and reverse a trailer at a very young age.
We took over the business from his uncle Dick in 1992, raising our two children, Holly and Callum, here and farmed it ourselves until 2018 when sadly it became commercially unviable for us to continue as such a small enterprise. We now rent the land to James and his father Tony who are the perfect tenants and always happy to share information about what particular job they are doing. Do give them a wave if you see them!
Skybarn Farm has seen many changes over the years. When Richard was a boy there were dairy cattle being milked in what is now our garden. In later years we raised beef cattle and sheep but now we only have a few chickens for their superb eggs.
We have been running the CL site since July 2013, growing it from a couple of electric hook-up points and a grass field to what it is today. Being experienced caravanners and more recently motorhomers, we wanted to make our CL the type of site we would like to visit. Over the years we've taken note of what our visitors would like along with what works best on our clay soil meaning we added hard standings followed by the fully serviced bollards to each pitch. Both of these improvements have proved immensely popular. We thoroughly enjoy running the CL, talking to all sorts of different people from all over the country with such varied interests and occupations. We are proud that lots of people choose to return to our site and inevitably many of you have now become firm friends!
"We have just spent 8 nights at our favourite cl, it was a pleasure to be back. Over the past 4 months Richard and Nicola have worked so hard to create a much improved site. It was good before but now excellent.....This is a must go to site." July 2020
Find us in the 2021/2022 Sites Directory & Handbook page 380, site number 883
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