Backbone of Britain: Farm Stay unite to offer public unique getaways

Growth

According to ABTA’s Holiday Habits Report 2017, 83 per cent of holiday-makers now book online.

Gone are the days when the Farm Stay brochure was the only way to book a farm-based holiday.

Now its website is key. It has attracted more than 850,000 visits in the last 12 months, with a peak of 4,000 over two days in January. Some customers still prefer to use the brochure, which goes out to some 30,000 people.

Caroline Barker of Cundall Lodge Farm, near Thirsk, has been a Farm Stay member since 2000 and is one of Farm Stay’s 11 regional directors, looking after Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire.

She says: “There’s still a generation that likes to look through the brochure, then at the website.

"It’s ever-changing.

“Now is an unusually challenging time. The big boys, like Booking.com and Airbnb, are out there and they have massive reach and are very powerful.

“We’re restructuring to keep up with the times. Originally it was a book that people paid for and now far more booking is done on the internet.

“It’s important to keep up with trends in hospitality too, and we help each other do that. I’ve learned so much since I became member.”

As well as bed and breakfast and self-catering accommodation, Farm Stay now offers shepherd huts, Romany caravans, ecopods, yurts and teepees.

Caroline says: “As people retire, we need to attract younger members. Glamping is different and attracts younger people. It’s a really nice, simple way of diversifying.”

Hosts are adapting in lots of ways, she says. Some specialise in holidays for the disabled, others offer wedding venues, including Mary Pengelly, who runs self-catering cottages in Dorset and is chairman of Farm Stay UK’s board.

“We have a 17th century stone barn for hire for a party, wedding or event,” she says. “It’s

licensed for marriage ceremonies and has a managed licensed bar.

“As a co-op, our ethos is to support each other where possible. Agri-tourism isn’t just about accommodation. We also support members who have associated enterprises, whether that’s a wedding venue or a pop-up rustic restaurant on a farm.

“We’ve got farm cinemas and quite a few members with cookery schools.

“One complements the other. It’s about imagination and doing something with what you’ve got to add value to what’s there already.

“When Farm Stay started, diversification wasn’t the big thing that it is now. Obviously because of the need for farmers to diversify, it’s become much bigger.”

Rural economy

Business generated through Farm Stay UK is worth millions to the rural economy each year. The co-op is currently projecting an annual revenue of between £12m-£18m per year for its accommodation providers and associated businesses.

While new trends have emerged, some things have not changed. Farm Stay’s aims are broadly the same as 35 years ago – to promote farm tourism in the UK, to help members with marketing and sales support and to help farmers diversify.

It still works closely with national and local tourism agencies. Regional and local groups still promote co-operation and best practice. Members also still have the chance to meet at the annual conference and AGM.

Last year’s event, at the Pavilions of Harrogate, included succession training and a number of talks and workshops on the latest trends in hospitality. This year’s event, in Salisbury, Wiltshire, will look at how Farm Stay is changing with the times.

Mary says: “The future is exciting. It’s tough out there and there’s a lot of competition, from Booking.com and Airbnb, but they come with problems.

“Our members are compliant, and they do all those quality things you don’t always see elsewhere.

“We’re changing. We’re working smarter. We’re listening to people. We’ve even got a partnership with Sony to use Peter Rabbit branding on forthcoming promotions.”

Bagging Peter Rabbit is quite a coup, but at the heart of the organisation lies the friendship and support between fellow farming and countryside families.

They connect through the hosts’ Facebook forum, at meetings and events or just over the phone or by email.

“It’s a community. That’s the nice thing about it,” says Caroline. “When customers say, ‘I stayed at a Farm Stay’, I can tell them I know them.

“People think of other hosts as competitors, but they’re not. We would love to have the advertising budget of people like Booking.com, but we don’t. We have to work together instead.

It’s a bit like all of farming – we’re competing on a big, global scale.

“You learn such a lot by talking to people, and the more you get involved, the more you get out of it.”