Farm stops pick-your-own business after 52 years

Paddy Ivens said he has missed out on family holidays when working on the farm, so now he wanted to spend time with his grandchildren

A farm has announced that it will be closing all of its pick-your-own fruit and vegetable experiences for visitors after 52 years.

Paddy Ivens, 61, owns Hill Farm in Chesterton, Peterborough, where his late father started to invite customers to pick their own corn on the cob in 1972.

The farm, he said, draws crowds from across Cambridgeshire and allows them to pick their own strawberries, plums, pumpkins and many other soft fruits.

Mr Ivens said that now he has grandchildren it was time to "get a better work-life balance" and that unpredictable weather was making growing produce "so much more of a challenge".

"My father ran the business before me," said Mr Ivens. "He bought the 250 acres (101 hectares) arable Hill Farm in 1962 and 10 years later set aside four acres to try growing sweetcorn and offered it as a pick-your-own crop.

"The public seemed intrigued and we sold it as 'corn on the cob' as no-one had heard of sweetcorn - it was seen as a bit exotic," he added.

Mr Ivens said it was more difficult to produce crops due to the unpredictable weather

Mr Ivens said that after the initial success the family ventured into other pick-your-own fruits and vegetables including strawberries, raspberries, plums and pumpkins.

"I will continue with my arable farming and will do more environmental projects like planting up wild flower meadows and putting in extra trees," he said.

The farm currently has a field set aside for caravaners and Mr Ivens said that he might look to double the capacity from the current five-van limit in the future.

Mr Ivens on the farm with his sister Karen Ivens in 1978 as they prepare fruit punnets for pickers

Mr Ivens said annually he plants about 40,000 pumpkin seeds (the equivalent of five to six football pitches).

"This year has been a bit of a pumpkin disaster due to a combination of weather from a cold wet spring, to dry July and August, then very wet September and October. Last year was the best crop ever, this year is probably the worst," said Mr Ivens.

Mr Ivens said he has "mixed emotions" about ending his pick-your-own business.

"Two things I will really miss are growing pumpkins, gourds and squashes as you never know what they are going to come up like, and the thrill of seeing them emerge from a clump of weeds in October is a magical time in my book.

"Looking over a sea of strawberry flowers when they first appear is another goose bump moment for me that I'll miss tremendously," said Mr Ivens.