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The Saddle-up 'Home'
Silver Birch Farm
Situated roughly
half-way between Ludlow and Kidderminster, on the
Shropshire/Worcestershire borders, Silver Birch Farm is home to
Saddle-up's editor, her husband, horses and dogs. There are 52
acres of land, with about 45 acres of pasture and 7 acres of
woodland. There are two useful barns and some tumbledown pig
buildings. One of its greatest benefits - from a horse owner's
perspective - is that it is immediately opposite the main entrance to
1,000 acres of Forestry Commission woodland, with several miles of
bridlepaths.
The
grazing land was cleared from woodland just a few years before we
moved here in 1986 and the pasture was poor (or non existent!)
The ground is heavy clay with a lot of stone in it, and in the first
few years, rock-picking was a high priority. We farmed sheep
here for about 8 years and had to house them from December to late
March - so there was plenty of muck to go on the land. Grass
seed was harrowed in and then trodden in by the sheep - ploughing was
ruled out by the amount of new stone it would bring to the surface.
There was
little or no internal fencing and the external fencing was pretty
rough (as were the plumbing, the electrics, the drainage, the
buildings ....) A ten-year plan was rapidly extended to a 20
year plan ...)
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