Babbinswood Farm has been a place that WWOOF volunteers can call home since 2012, and we have hosted well over 200 volunteers from all over the world during that time. We have enjoyed this experience immensely and feedback has been very positive too. In the early days a lot of the activities centred around developing a vegetable garden which fed us, and surplus was sold to the local community.
In 2015 Casha (who is the 5th generation and Adam returned to the farm) The Little Dairy was started, a unique micro-dairy where cows rear their calves. Adam brought a new exciting offering to the farm by running outdoor activities and the volunteers enjoyed chilling out in the evenings and learning bushcraft skills. As you can see the farm has a diverse offering, along with my holistic vet practice, with people at its heart.
Now 2025, we have over 70 cattle and 100 sheep. Animal welfare has always been a top priority for us. We sell our produce direct to customers through our on-site farm shop and delivery service.
There have been a lot of changes over these years and now we are embracing another enormous challenge – to raise £1.5 million by 31st March 2025 to keep Babbinswood Farm organic in perpetuity. This has come about due to the need to purchase half of the farm from my ex-husband during the process of our divorce, to keep the farm whole, thriving and producing nutritious affordable organic food whilst restoring and caring for our soil, our animals, our local and wider community and our planet.
Over the last few years, we have not managed to convince conventional banks that we can afford such borrowing. Our current business is young, so although projections on the performance of the last two years are good, it doesn’t have a robust track record that has satisfied affordability criteria. Even banks that think more outside the box have not been able to help so far. There seems to me to be a total disconnect between people, banks and businesses that if we don’t care for our soils, very shortly, there will be nothing left in which to grow nutritious food. Organic farming, which we are passionate about, has the answers. As Hans Herren said when asked, can organic farming feed the world, he said “sure it can – but it doesn’t fill the pockets of a few business people”. We are absolutely determined that our precious land, organic for 21 years now, will not be sold off to the highest bidder and sprayed off with chemicals and ploughed up.
Inspired by the success of Fordhall Organic Farm*, with Charlotte Hollins’ support we held a community meeting on December 3rd 2023, which was well attended – around 30 people – despite snow the night before and wet and cold conditions on the day. This meeting was to hear the voice of the community, to understand what they would like to see here and what involvement they want.
On top of all the farming and my running my holistic veterinary practice it has been extremely busy these past 12 months, but this has been made even more possible as we have had the support of local volunteers who are passionate about Saving Babbinswood Farm as well. Together we have successfully incorporated as a Charitable Community Benefit Society with the FCA, created a Share Offer which achieved Share Standards Mark, and written a business plan. The CBS founding board is currently made up of nine dedicated and passionate supporters of the farm including myself and Casha.
So what is the Babbinswood Community Benefit Society all about?
Babbinswood Farm Community Benefit Society Ltd. is a passionate group of volunteers dedicated to saving and growing the legacy of Babbinswood Organic Farm. We believe in stewardship, not ownership, protecting and safeguarding our local land through organic management, known as Babbinswood Farm South. After purchase, the CBS will rent land and buildings back to the tenant farmers, Barbara and Casha, to maintain the working organic farm. The rental income from this will be used to develop and run community activities from the farm. An absolutely brilliant example of this way of farming is Fordhall Farm near Market Drayton, which is owned by a CBS called the Fordhall Community Land Initiative.
Shareholders in the CBS have a life-long say in the future of the farm that they landlord, and we operate on a democratic one-member, one-vote basis so that influence can never be bought.
What will the CBS do with Babbinswood Farm South once it is in community ownership?
- Provide secure livelihoods for tenant farmers and protect its organic stewardship
- Encourage long-term organic and regenerative stewardship of the land by offering our future tenant farmers, Casha and Barbara, a long-term Farm Business Tenancy
- Protect the soil and landscape for future generations
- Continue to connect people to the land through community engagement and educational practices
- Work with others within the farming community to champion holistic and regenerative practices
- Build on the success of the biodynamic focused community garden
- Welcome volunteers, students and schools
- To increase access for the community. We have many ways of welcoming the community on to the farm, for example:
- Over 2km of Dog-friendly farm walks
- Community woodland – woodland activities, managed public access
- Education – courses and resources for self sufficiency, gardening and farming
- Therapeutic activities – arts and crafts, horticultural therapy, care farming
- Volunteering and job opportunities
- Buildings – meeting rooms, workshop space, capacity for eco-build rentals this might include a community cafe
How can you help us?
Join us on our mission to Save Babbinswood Farm: We are selling non-profit shares in our farm for £50; shares can be purchased through CrowdFunder.
You can follow our success and story online, Facebook and Instagram. We are asking people to share our story to friends, family, volunteers and help us achieve our target.
Thank you so much,
Barbara and Casha
* = There’s an article about Fordhall Organic Farm, who are hosts in Shropshire, in a recent WWOOF UK newsletter article.
We’d like to wish everyone at Babbinswood Farm the best of luck with achieving the goal of community ownership of the land.
You can find out more about Babbinswood Farm and the WWOOFing opportunities available here.
Disclaimer: It should be noted that hosts receive guests solely as part of an immersive learning experience, in line with WWOOF UK’s educational charitable aims. Visitors participate in the host’s lifestyle, in order to learn. There is no formalised or contractual agreement and the residential visitors (WWOOFers) are free to come and go at will, so are not considered workers. WWOOFers are absolutely not a substitute for paid labour. Any mention of the words ‘work’ or ‘exchange’ in reviews, articles and other content created by our membership is language chosen by the author and not sanctioned by WWOOF.
