Welcome to the View from the Hill

Please explore this monthly farming broadcast from the countryside around Durweston village, near Blandford, Dorset, in the south of England.

 

To access the latest edition please click here

The main features of this website include:

Monthly blog from the Hill, all the latest pictures and text. Click here for index

Picture Gallery: Pictures from all the monthly blogs, all in one place, Click here

Video Clips: this page has a number of links to short farming videos on youtube, some are funny, some relaxing, some with luck are interesting! Click Video Clips in the menu bar above, or here

The View from 2003 to 2008:  See what was happening on the Hill ten years ago and more, click here for the early days of View from the Hill.

To navigate the site, please click here or click or hover over Articles  menu above.  Pictures can be enlarged with one click.

May 2012 View from the air

 

We are based on a mixed arable and stock farm on soils overlying chalk, ours is a family business, and this website is a small window on what happens on our farm around the year.

This site originates in a series of articles written for the Durweston News, our local parish newsletter, which was published monthly until 2015.  An edited version now appears in glossy print in the Forum Focus every month,  and this site is simply an alternative way to access the photographs, and commentary, which if it occasionally sounds a little opinionated, reflects only the views of the author, at times it may need to be taken with a pinch of salt……..

The author welcomes comment and discussion via the message box at the bottom of each page.

 

13 thoughts on “Welcome to the View from the Hill

  1. Loved seeing the photoes and all the articles – it is the first thing I read when I get the Durweston News. How farming has changed and yet the buildings etc have not. I have several old photoes of the farm and wondered if you would like them please let me know. I remember the post war years and the “changeover” to mechanisation.and how it affected one particular farm hand (humurous). If I ever get round to [putting words to paper I will send them to you. Through Google Earth I can revisit many of the old haunts. Thank you once again for allowing me to revisit.

  2. I would like to use one of your images for a Country Fair programme..might this be possible and who do I ask for permission and how can I get a hi res version for this.
    Many thanks in advance for your assistance.
    Best regards
    Wendy

  3. Dear Mr. Hosford.
    Referring to your letter in the last issue of ‘Forum Focus’ (no.62), as a resident of Sturminster Newton I would be most interested in precisely what ‘right thing’ Sturminster Newton was too frightened to do in your opinion. I would add that I am not a Town Councillor, a member of SturQuest or any other Stur based organisation, just an interested resident.
    Regards
    Graham Baseden.

  4. This is great..! My sister Christine who lives in Canada sent me this link and it really brings back memories of an idyllic childhood from 0 to 11 years of age (1949 to 1959 approx) spent at Travellers Rest. My brother and I spent every spare moment exploring the farm and knew every inch of it..! Keep me in touch.

  5. Hello George, as usual your newsletter is up to it’s wonderful standard. I am so glad you are really trying to decide on a drill. With the spraying coming under scrutiny from the V.I. etc. (no bad thing and it has lifted the general standards)
    I have often thought that the basics, cultivation and seed placing was being left behind. Good to see you (as usual) are taking a structured approach. I will be interested to see which way you finish. Nice to see that Matthew is still around, please send him my regards next time you see him. Tell him I have nearly retired but not quite all, still get asked to do a little training.
    I presume all the potatoes are safely gathered in, have the pigs been given free range to clear the area of ground keepers. Planning next years crop I hope, you know you enjoy it. All the very best and stay safe, Mike

  6. Dear George
    I enjoyed reading your column in a back issue of Farmer & Grower (March 2021)and noted with interest you had tested x4 direct drills. We’re on the cusp of likewise moving to a direct drill & also have heavy flinty ground. I’d much appreciate being able to read your drill review . Would you be able to share?

    Have you made the change? How are your yields faring? Any pointers much appreciated!

    Kind regards
    TJ

  7. Hello George
    Chris IJ passed on the link to your blog. I have just been having a read!
    I studied at Wye too and graduated in ’79. I live in Dorset near Sherborne.
    I was at an interesting debate with the IJ’s (panel of speakers) on regenerative farming last weekend. Hence Chris thought about your work with herbal leys etc.
    Interestingly I enjoyed a walk up Hambledon Hill earlier in the year. I assume that is close to your farm?
    Can I sign up to receive your monthly blog posts?

  8. Hello
    NOT a reply or comment but an enquiry!
    In your amazingly busy life – I wonder if you ever have time to do talks about agriculture? And if so; if you’d be willing to do one for Blandford Town Museum? The Museum is also involved in Heritage and Arts and is the umbrella organisation for Blandford Environmeantal Trust, the local Archeology group and more.
    I am a volunteer (as all of us are there!) and involved with the Events Group.
    We are setting up talks for this year for the spring and the autumn and are looking for local subjects of interest – and obviously agriculture has been raised especially if a talk refers to some of the history of agriculture!
    We can pay a small fee – around £60.
    Let me know if it might be at all possible – so I can talk to our events committee

    Many Thanks

  9. Hello George. Your ‘loyal reader’ shares you blog with me – I find it really interesting to hear things from your perspective.
    I work in Biological Sciences at Bristol University and was wondering if I could have a chat with you about beavers please, in connection with an ecology and conservation module I’m teaching on this term. I’m keen to have a better understanding of the views of landowners and farmers on beaver introductions and I thought you might be able to suggest someone I could talk to, perhaps from the NFU. I’d be grateful if you’d email me please when you have a moment. Many thanks Dave

  10. Wishing you all a wonderful 2024, To George, it is good to see that as always you and your family is in the lead re, farming and agriculture. Read your bit in the South West Farmer.
    Great that you are a regenerative farmer.
    I am trying to do the same in my allotment, scale a little different, all the very best from Mike. Yes still with you, but a lot slower, michaelhuntington43@gmail.com

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