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Farmer Stories

Holly Purdey - Balancing nature and viability on Exmoor’s lowlands

England
Case Study
community-supported agriculture
direct selling
Livestock
rotational grazing
Tenant Farmer
Silvopasture
slow the flow
soil health

On the edge of Exmoor, NFFN England steering group member Holly Purdey is guiding a National Trust farm through a nature-friendly transformation, striving to remain financially viable while managing the land for livestock and biodiversity.

Horner Farm, with its 200 acres of pasture, occupies one of the few lowland areas on Exmoor in Somerset. Owned by the National Trust, it is currently transitioning to a nature-friendly approach under the stewardship of tenant farmer and NFFN England steering group member Holly Purdey.

Holly grew up on a Somerset organic dairy farm, where animal welfare and environmental responsibility were central values. With five siblings, she wasn’t sure if her future lay in farming and instead channelled her love of the outdoors into a career in conservation. The death of her father when she was 19 prompted her to study wildlife conservation locally, keeping her connected to the countryside and farming.

She then worked for the Somerset Wildlife Trust, where she is now a trustee, and the National Trust. While working on one of the charity’s farms, she rediscovered her passion for agriculture.

“I felt there was this push against farmers, that they weren’t doing a good enough job,” she recalls. “I felt conservationists were often critical without fully understanding the pressures of farming. I thought it was possible to farm in balance with nature, and that has been a driving force for me.”

Holly returned to her mother’s farm and began rearing sheep before she and husband Mark took on the tenancy of Horner Farm in 2018. When they moved in, the farm was far from a nature-friendly paradise.

“It was in a really poor state,” Holly recalls. “It had been overgrazed with horses, soil organic matter was very low, a lot of topsoil had been lost through arable farming and flooding, and there were thistles everywhere, along with compaction and water runoff.”

Holly was able to make immediate changes by entering the higher tier of Countryside Stewardship, which allowed her to establish herbal leys, wood pasture and orchards. She was clear from the outset that she wanted to eliminate inputs straight away rather than reduce them gradually.

“We wanted to farm our way from the beginning,” she says. “We were told we needed to apply lime, spray the fields and so on, but we said it didn’t fit with our principles, so we weren’t going to do it. Land can become addicted to fertiliser, and then it goes into a shocked state when that’s removed. Because we had really low livestock numbers, the land could rest and recover. It gave us breathing space.”

By getting to know the land, Holly has been able to set the correct stocking levels for the farm’s grazing system. At present, the farm carries around 100 ewes - mostly North Country Cheviots with some Badger Faced Welsh Mountains - along with about 45 Shorthorn cattle and roughly 30 pasture-fed poultry hens.

Holly has adopted a “rational grazing system”, using an 1850 field map to restore historic field boundaries with hedgerows. Grazing is rotational, with sheep and cattle moving in mobs through the pastures and the chicken trailer coming on behind them. The livestock move every three days or so in the summer, and roughly every six days in winter. The farm has also adopted silvopasture—an agroforestry practice that brings together trees, forage and livestock—so the animals can browse among the trees and hedgerows.

The cattle and ewes are entirely pasture-fed, with everything finished on grass. Over winter, the stock is fed hay from the species-rich meadows.

Nurturing soil health has been central to the farm’s transformation. Compaction has been tackled by restricting heavy machinery to hay cutting, while rest periods enable plants to develop deeper root systems, improving soil structure and increasing organic matter. Monitoring has shown a rise in soil pH, even though lime has been completely eliminated.

“I think our land and soil biology are rebalancing to the state nature intends,” says Holly. “It’s never going to be super-productive, but that’s OK. We change the way we farm to suit the environment, not change the environment to suit our farming.”

That means decisions such as thinning sheep numbers have been fairly easy for Holly, as she continues to look for balance. “Our profitability is increasing as we move towards having a flock that is entirely grass-fed and healthier, which costs us less. With more animals, we’d have to buy in feed.”

It's never going to be super-productive, but that's OK. We change the way we farm to suit the environment, not change the environment to suit our farming.

Holly Purdey

Even so, financial viability at Horner Farm remains a challenge. In the early years, it was difficult to build up the capital the farm needed while also increasing stock numbers. Holly also stepped away from supply chain volatility by switching to direct sales - bringing higher prices but also more work. Meat is now sold through a shop run by Holly’s brother, an online service and pre-ordered boxes. There’s also a quarterly community market and Farm to Fork feast evenings. Holly continues to use a small local abattoir that slaughters her animals and is willing to take smaller native breed carcasses.

“Direct selling suits native breeds better,” Holly explains. “Markets want continental cattle with perfect grading. My Shorthorns produce fantastic beef, but they will never get the top grades in a slaughterhouse. Selling direct means you know exactly what it has cost to produce and what you need to charge. We now have a loyal following and a supportive local community that wants to buy and eat well.”

Nevertheless, Holly is uncomfortable that many people cannot afford meat when production costs are properly covered. “I’m not from a wealthy family and money was tight growing up, so it’s hard knowing that much of our local population can’t shop with us,” she says. “We’ve been trying to offer deals on mince and freezer packs where possible. I want to feed everyone, no matter their income, but I don’t yet know how to achieve that.”

One way Holly has opened the farm to the wider community is through community-supported agriculture (CSA) project Good Vibe Veg, run by a local couple keen to grow food. Vegetables are produced on a one-hectare field using organic principles and no artificial inputs. Supporters receive a weekly quantity of produce in proportion to their support level. The project also supplies the farm’s markets and feast evenings, while the farm itself produces fruit juice from trees in the orchard and silvopasture.

Biodiversity is thriving: the farm is now home to grass snakes and birds like linnets, goldfinches and fieldfares. Plants such as yarrow also flourish. Holly admits that seeing nature return to the farm excites her even more now than when she worked in conservation. “It’s a huge motivator, realising these changes are happening because of what we’re doing,” she says. “Sometimes I message National Trust staff,  or they message me, and we share sightings and celebrate the land improving.”

Climate resilience is one of Holly’s biggest drivers, with Horner Farm situated on the front line of increasing erratic weather. 

“We’re at the bottom of a massive catchment, so huge amounts of rainwater come down into the vale, but we’re also in a microclimate with a summer rain shadow,” she explains. “We have to assume both are going to get worse in the future.”

Our nature-friendly farming approach is about the long-term viability of the land. I want my sons to still be able to farm here in 30 or 50 years.

Holly Purdey

Where possible, Holly has adopted practices that deliver multiple benefits. Tree planting and silvopasture offer shade, shelter and browse, while water retention measures - from flow ponds to breaking ditches - help slow and spread rainfall across the fields. She also hopes long rest periods and herbal leys will build pasture resilience. Even so, the 2022 heat dome, with its unprecedented temperatures, revealed how challenging the future climate may be.

“I went into that period quite confident - I thought we had cracked it,” she says. “But our grass just turned to crispy hay and we ended up feeding the animals hay throughout August. It was a very difficult summer. I’m hoping integrating more trees will help.”

These experiences have only increased Holly’s determination. “Our nature-friendly farming approach is about the long-term viability of the farm,” she says. “I want my sons to still be able to farm here in 30 or 50 years. Everything I am doing for the land is to ensure it’s in better condition than when I took it on."

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