Summer at Essebeare Farm

Olly Walker

August 26, 2026

It’s been quite a summer here at Essebeare Farm - a real roller coaster, with some beautiful moments of abundance alongside some of the hardest challenges we’ve faced in recent years.

As we write this, the cooler rains have finally arrived in Devon, bringing welcome moisture back into the soil after weeks of heat and drought. The swallows are sweeping over the meadows, the cattle are contently grazing, and there’s a sense that the farm is turning a corner towards autumn.

A summer of extremes

The heat has reminded us once again just how little control we really have over the seasons.

Temperatures pushing beyond 30°C are challenging for livestock and farmers alike. Thankfully, the work we’ve invested in over the last eleven years - building healthy soils, restoring diverse pastures, encouraging deep-rooting plants and carefully managing our grazing - has helped the farm withstand these extremes better than it otherwise might.

Through rotational grazing, we metre out the grass carefully, allowing paddocks plenty of time to rest and recover. We also plan ahead for changing conditions, making use of the wetter areas of the farm during drier periods.

We’ve seen summers like this before, notably in 2018 and 2022, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that these extremes are something we need to learn to work with.

Being a regenerative farmer doesn’t make you immune to climate shocks, but it can soften the blows.

The trees and hedgerows around the farm have also provided valuable shade and shelter for the animals, strengthening our resolve to plant more. We now have a plan in place with the Woodland Trust to establish new tree avenues over the coming years, while our hedgerow restoration work is now complete.

A big thank you to Alba Trees for supporting our planting work, and to Natural England and the Woodland Trust for sharing our vision and helping us explore the possibilities of agroforestry.

A difficult few weeks

Alongside the weather, we’ve faced another, much more painful challenge this summer.

Bluetongue virus serotype 3 has reached Devon and Cornwall and has arrived with alarming force. Despite being early adopters of the vaccine, we have lost at least ten good sheep, with many others showing clinical signs and requiring treatment.

Watching an animal you’ve cared for from birth become sick is one of the hardest parts of livestock farming. We do everything we can to provide the highest standards of welfare, but there are times when we’re reminded that we cannot protect our animals from every hardship.

It has been a real strain on top of the ordinary demands of farming, but thankfully we hope the worst is now behind us and we can turn our attention towards autumn.

Resilience, not invincibility

This summer has reinforced something we’ve learned over the years: resilience and invincibility are very different things.

The investment we’ve made in our soils, pastures, trees and grazing system has made a genuine difference. But even the best-managed farm has limits.

Having spent time sailing, I often think farming is rather like being at the helm of a boat. You can’t control the wind or command the tide. Your job is to read the conditions, respect them and continually adjust your sails.

Farming asks much the same of us.

We cannot prevent every drought, stop every disease or predict what the next season will bring. What we can do is steward the land well, care faithfully for our animals and keep making wise adjustments as circumstances change.

After eleven years at Essebeare, we’re beginning to see some really encouraging results from the time, energy and money we’ve invested in regenerative farming. The journey hasn’t always been easy - there have been business highs and lows, children growing up, mud, blood, sweat and tears - but we feel incredibly grateful for how far the farm has come.

Looking towards autumn

The rain has been very welcome, replenishing soil moisture and bringing fresh grass growth across the farm. We’re looking forward to making the most of the coming months and, hopefully, an extended grazing season.

We’ll keep restoring hedgerows, planting trees, nurturing healthy soils, carefully managing our grazing and producing good food as faithfully as we can.

And, of course, the farm shop is stocked with delicious organic, high-welfare beef and lamb. We have some lovely end-of-summer barbecue options available, along with promotions on our family meat boxes if you’d like to fill the freezer while supporting regenerative, organic, Pasture for Life farming here in North Devon.

We’ve also been incredibly grateful for the support of friends in Devon. Naturalmat have been wonderful for spotlighting the farm once again, producing a beautiful blog post and a lovely film about our work.

As the wind changes, we’ll keep adjusting our course.

Not because we know what tomorrow will bring, but because farming - and perhaps life itself - has always been about faithfully tending what has been entrusted to us, whatever the weather.

Thank you, as always, for supporting Essebeare Farm. We never take it for granted.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful end to summer.