East Yorkshire country house is the answer to life after farming for the Maltas

Held annually for 32 years until just five years ago, it was David Maltas’ pride and joy, but time moves on and today West Carlton Country House, owned by one of David’s sons and his wife, is fast becoming one of the area’s favourite wedding venues.

Tim and Caroline Maltas had farmed here since marrying in 1981, taking over the 330-acre mainly arable operation that also saw beef cattle from Scotland overwintered and at one time there was a sheep flock too, but the effects of Foot and Mouth disease restrictions proved a hiatus for them. At the time West Carlton was part of Maltas Farms. Tim’s father David and mum Margaret, who passed away just six weeks ago, and his four brothers – Bryan, Roger, Geoffrey and Martyn were all involved.

“Movement restrictions imposed in 2001 caused us a lot of problems,” says Tim. “We had 300 suckler cows that couldn’t go back to Scotland and we were hit very hard. At the time I was very confused, we had no contingency plans. We had a big family meeting. It was time for some big decisions. Our daughter Rachel who’s 28 and a teacher in Oxford didn’t look as though she had an interest in farming so that made life a little easier as we had no new generation expecting to take over. All the same, I’d never wanted to move out of farming but I was forced out through Foot and Mouth.”

Caroline had spotted the potential of their Georgian period country house that already had 10 bedrooms some years prior to 2001 and in 1998 had started running a bed and breakfast accommodation business across just two rooms, adding a third room in 2000.

“I’d been thinking about what we could do with the house and had undertaken a three year soft furnishing and interior design course at Bishop Burton College, which led to setting up my own business. That then led to what turned out to be a natural progression into bed and breakfast accommodation because the soft furnishings showed how lovely the rooms could look. The house frontage dates back to 1760 so we knew that the character of the property would appeal too.”

Tim decided it was time to leave day-to-day farming behind and pursue other employment. He and Caroline came out of Maltas Farms. The arable land was sold to their neighbours, the Porter family, who continue to farm it today.

West Carlton Country House became their own property and they have also since taken ownership of the farm buildings and paddocks. But when Tim quit farming, their bed and breakfast business was still just three rooms.

“I had to find another job and teaching was always something I had wanted to do. I started at Bishop Burton College teaching basic agricultural skills to special needs children. I remember quite literally going from driving my tractor on the farm one day to teaching the next day. I was there two years before moving on to teach GCSE Rural Science, or Environmental Studies as it became known, at Woldgate School in Pocklington and then supply teaching at schools in Hull and the East Riding. It was all very rewarding and I ended up teaching everything from geography to maths.”

Further roles as a community liaison officer for the Aldbrough Gas Storage site, shift work in a plastics factory in Brandesburton and working for agricultural contractor Brian Basham of Mappleton demonstrates Tim’s adaptability.

“My Young Farmers club experiences and education have come in really handy. I’d been farming all my life until 2001 but the public speaking and communication skills I learned as a teenager and in my early 20s have meant that I’ve been able to feel comfortable with all sorts of people and at all levels.”

Tim began working from home full-time at West Carlton Country House last year. Its reputation for ‘the big day’ has been on a steady rise since Caroline took on their first wedding.

“As our accommodation started producing more income we reinvested and opened up the other rooms. We now have eight en-suite rooms and can sleep 18 in the house. We’re now busy throughout the year and get a lot of long term business guests. Then we started becoming popular for christening parties, special birthdays and wedding anniversaries.

“It was through our foster son John, who came to live with us when he was 18, that the weddings kicked off. He’d said he wanted to get married at home and between us we organised it all in July 2008. We all absolutely loved it and since then our wedding trade has gradually increased, but last year we decided to promote ourselves on Facebook and this year we have over 20 weddings booked in and have bookings already for 2017 and 2018.

“We offer a Friday lunchtime to Sunday lunchtime package, use all local suppliers, have a marquee up in the garden with a live band if that’s what is wanted, the yard where the farm buildings are is a car park, part of the paddock is a campsite that includes teepees and we’re thinking of developing a touring caravan site.”