Sam Biles, farmer
Of the farm’s original 350 acres the Forestry Commission planted up 250 acres as part of Brighstone Forest. Sam says, “My grandfather Harold Biles took the tenancy of the remaining 100 acres in the mid-1920s and supplied cow manure to the Commission – each tree was planted with a shovel full to help it grow on the thin chalky soil. My father David Biles took over when his father died in 1961 and bought the farm in 1987. The house had been unoccupied since 1965 and we extended and renovated it, moving in Christmas 2007."
We have our own small suckler herd of Aberdeen Angus which graze the land. They are very hardy and can outwinter on the free-draining chalk pasture. The cattle are joined by sheep in the spring and this combination of annimals seems to suit the land really well.
