The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
Tasting notes
One dairy farmer’s land of milk and honey
‘My late grandfather farmed on the top of dartmoor and retired to a smallholding of about 15 acres, which I would visit as a child,’ says Sam Bullingham. ‘that’s what fuelled my interest.’ Bullingham, 25, considers himself a first-generation farmer: his parents are not in the business and so he set himself upon the edge of the national park, renting that same land from his grandmother, as well as a 50- acre farm next door and ‘another 30 acres up the road’.
he started out rearing lamb, but for t he past two years has specialised in dairy. With 20 Jersey cows, Bullingham now runs a micro-dairy with his partner, Katie, whose own experiments have seen t hem branch out into icecream making (the ‘thunder & lightning ’ recipe of clotted cream, golden syrup and pop ping candy going down especially well at local festivals).
this year, the cattle and romney sheep cohabiting Bullingham’s organically farmed land have had some new joiners – a hive of bees. he was picked by eat natural, the cereal-bar maker whose Pollenation initiative seeks to recruit new bee keepers across the country. training and kit–including hive- monitoring technology, which provides phone updates on rainfall, temperature and hive act iv it y – duly received (in return for a quota of honey to be used in eat natural’s bars), Bullingham has his queen and drones installed. ‘Beekeeping is ethical, sustainable, and hugely beneficial for farming. I plant herbal leys enriched with clover, chicory and planta in, which means more floral life in summer.’ look out for his taw river dairy honeycomb ice cream (Bullingham’s long-term goal) soon.