Top of the crops as Purbeck fruit farm goes up for sale

By Andrew Smith 14 July 2024, 6:00 am

👁 1941

A chance to buy into a great British summer tradition, as Lenctenbury Pick Your Own fruit Farm is put up for sale

There’s a new opportunity for families to live the good life in Purbeck as an established pick your own fruit farm has been put up for sale.

Sealed bids with a guide price of £300,000 are being invited for Lenctenbury Fruit Farm near Norden, about seven acres of land which is half planted up with established strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant and blueberry crops.

Fruit farmer Andrew Carlyle has decided it’s time to retire

“I’ll miss the job terribly”

The successful and profitable farm has been owned and operated since 2002 by local farmer Andrew Carlyle, but he has decided it is time to retire and has put his business on the market.

Although hours can be long and the great British weather usually causes a challenge of some kind or other for farmers, he says he will miss the job terribly.

Andrew grew up on a farm and studied agriculture at university, but went on to a career in market research and analysis, taking a job in the world of insurance.

But missing farm life, he saved up until he was able to buy Lenctenbury Farm in 2003, began to build up a fruit business in his days off and at weekends and finally gave up his insurance job in 2009.

Lenctenbury Pick Your Own fruit farm is off Soldiers Lane, Norden

A family experience to pick your own fruit

Andrew Carlyle said:

“We have customers who have been coming here every year since we opened and bringing their children and grandchildren with them, even though some of those grandchildren are now in university.

“I really enjoy selling direct to the public, and find that they also enjoy coming out to the farm and seeing how food is grown – it becomes a family experience to get out into the fields and choose their own fruit.

“There are rising costs in farming as there is with everything, but there is also a move away from buying food as cheaply as you can and people not only want the tastiest fruit, but also the reassurance that it hasn’t been sprayed.

“You can still go to budget supermarkets and get the cheapest strawberries on the market, which won’t cost as much as coming out here and picking them off the plants.

“But then, you won’t get the same flavour, the satisfaction of gathering your own fruit, nor the experience of being outside in the open rather than in the aisles of a supermarket.”

Lenctenbury – one of Dorset’s first pick your own pumpkin patches

Pumpkin picking sessions in October

The farm has also begun holding very popular pick your own pumpkin sessions in October and has further experimented with asparagus, gooseberries, redcurrants and sunflowers.

There is also an acre of grass paddock, barns and parking for the pick your own business and a mobile home which has been used for seasonal workers to stay in during the height of summer.

Lenctenbury Farm lies within the Dorset National Landscape, an area of outstanding natural beauty, is close to the Purbeck Heritage Coast, 400 metres from the Stoborough and Creech Heaths site of special scientific interest and is near historic Corfe Castle.

It is suggested that there could be scope to explore other farming uses for the land, subject to the relevant planning permissions from Dorset Council.

Fruit towers have cut production losses hugely since being installed

Not only are the strawberries easier to see, you no longer need to bend down to pick them!

Raised fruit beds are a game changer

Andrew Carlyle said:

“It was just grassland when I took over in 2003, everything here that’s not grass is down to us. We have put in irrigation pipes and installed raised fruit beds in 2017 and 2018 – they were quite expensive but have been a really good investment.

“Before we did that, in a bad year we could lose up to 60 percent of the crop to slugs, snails, birds and mice, whereas now our losses are less than four percent.

“Having the strawberries grow off the ground means they are much easier to see, and because they are hanging in midair the rain and soil don’t rot them and they look cleaner.

“They are also massively easier to pick as well, as everything is at waist or chest height and there’s no bending at all, whereas it used to be back breaking work!”

Blueberries have become an increasingly popular crop at Lenctenbury

Blackcurrant bushes are kept under nets to stop the birds from making a breakfast of them

“The job has kept me fit and healthy”

Andrew added:

“We will be here for the rest of this season, we are inviting offers until 12 noon on Friday 23rd August and will then review offers and decide what to do.

“But if someone wants to ask us to take the farm off the market beforehand in return for a good price, we might be open to that – though it would still probably take a couple of months for the conveyancing to go through.

“Someone could come in and run it almost immediately. There are some technical considerations to learn, but even if you’ve never been involved in farming before, you should be able to learn in a few weeks and I’m prepared to show the next owner the ropes to get them up and running.

“I will miss it massively, it’s kept me fit and healthy, but there are other things I want to do with my life too – like taking a holiday in the summer! July and August in the past have always been very busy for us. I grew up on a farm, so we never took holidays in the summer then, either.

“If I’m honest, I would rather go on holiday in the winter for mountains and skiing, but it will be quite a novelty to have the option of summer sun as well!”

There’s a mobile home on site which has been used for seasonal workers during summer

A map shows the extent of the farm, opposite the Halfway Inn off the A351

Lots of passing trade on the A351

Lenctenbury Farm is situated opposite the Half Way Inn on the A351, down Soldiers Road and attracts a lot of passing trade to the site, enabling it to be so popular and successful.

The sale is being handled by West Country estate agents Symonds and Sampson and offers are invited with a deadline of 12 noon on Friday 23rd August 2024.