So Rewarding!

Jacqui and Alan Pateman-Jones gave up city careers for the country – and they just love keeping animals

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Situated deep in North Devon’s Taw Valley and close to the village of Burrington, Poole Batten Farm is home to Jacqui and Alan Pateman-Jones and their pigs, goats, sheep, Border Collies, cats, geese, chickens, ducks and passing wildlife. The couple moved to the farm nearly three years ago, having spent most of their careers in the financial services industry in London.

They had a good, initial, idea of what they wanted and, after further research and the viewing of a number of farms and smallholdings, this was honed to ensure both they and their animals got something that worked. “At first we thought a couple of acres would be enough,” says Alan. “But it became clear that we’d need more than that, although at no stage did we plan to buy 31 acres! They sort of came with the house and the extra fields did give us extra privacy.”

The land has four higher steeply sloping fields with a couple of fast-flowing streams that can become torrents in winter and four lower fields that can become very boggy. The grade-2 listed farmhouse faces a steep yard and has both old and modern barns to two sides. At first the couple saw the barns as a bonus, but it became clear very early on that they were actually essential.

Jacqui said: “As our first autumn and then winter with the animals just became wetter and wetter, and feeding of the pigs in the lower fields became almost impossible, we realised that without the barns we would have real problems.”