Pulling a pint of the white stuff in Cherry Burton

Buying habits of the daily pint of milk have changed massively since the 60s with doorstep delivery way down on its halcyon days of the early 70s when nearly all milk was delivered direct. Nearly 50 years on most is now bought through supermarkets as part of the weekly shop.
Becky Waring in the shed which houses the milk vending machine at the family farm. Pictures by Scott Merrylees.Becky Waring in the shed which houses the milk vending machine at the family farm. Pictures by Scott Merrylees.
Becky Waring in the shed which houses the milk vending machine at the family farm. Pictures by Scott Merrylees.

Becky Waring isn’t looking to buy a milk float or go out in a pick-up around Cherry Burton and Beverley in order to enhance doorstep delivery in the East Riding, instead she’s going one step further back to the days when villagers would turn up at farms or at lane ends and fill their cans and pails with fresh milk.

People want to support local produce and there is a growing number who are not comfortable buying what is made locally but is purchased from a large supermarket chain, but I don’t see what I’m trying to do as causing any concern to the giant corporations.”

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Becky has launched Cherry View Milk from Field House Farm in Cherry Burton where she is using her own few cows for this new venture. Husband James and his parents Peter and Judith send all of their family partnership’s milk to Chestnut Dairies near Hornsea.

Becky Waring and her son Jake.Becky Waring and her son Jake.
Becky Waring and her son Jake.

“I’ve invested in my own on-farm milk vending machine and I’m hoping that people who want to buy the freshest possible milk produced by happy, free range cows grazing rich pastures will come and collect regularly.

“Many farms in continental Europe have had this kind of machine for a number of years and although we in this country are late adopters there is an increasing number that are finding success with it.

“My website went live on Friday last week and I’ve had hundreds of shares and likes on Facebook and other social media.

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“There is a direct market close by with Cherry Burton having a population of 1,500, Etton has around 200 and there are 30,000 in the urban area in and around Beverley. I need to sell a minimum of 50 litres a day to make it pay, which is a very small proportion of those numbers.

Becky Waring and her son Jake.Becky Waring and her son Jake.
Becky Waring and her son Jake.

“Customers can bring any receptacle they own and the machine will dispense either one or two litres of milk at a time. What they will be getting is milk that has come from the cow that day, has been pasteurised and then put into the vending machine. I have glass or plastic bottles that they can purchase too.”

Becky comes from a dairy farming family in Derbyshire. She studied for her degree in agriculture at Harper Adams, worked for Dairyco in Cirencester and met James while helping friends show dairy cows at the Great Yorkshire Show. They married in 2008 and have a son Jake, 5.

Cherry View Milk is available this weekend from Field House Farm, Etton Road, Cherry Burton, HU17 7RP.

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