Meet the Yorkshire farming couple who set up a shooting school and spa after seeing no future in wheat growing

Over 20 years ago when wheat was at £65 per tonne, a third generation East Riding arable farmer began thinking of training his sights on other targets.
Sharon and Tom Bayston opened their shooting school in 2006Sharon and Tom Bayston opened their shooting school in 2006
Sharon and Tom Bayston opened their shooting school in 2006

In 2006, Tom Bayston and his wife Sharon opened their new business Park Lodge Shooting School on land that is part of their Pollington Grange farming acreage at East Cowick, near Goole.

Recently, Tom picked up a Yorkshire Post Rural Award for what has grown to be Park Lodge Shooting School and Spa, which is now highly regarded by the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association having achieved Premier Plus status.

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Tom said that Park Lodge, which is run as a completely separate business to the farm, started from very humble beginnings.

They have since expanded to add a spaThey have since expanded to add a spa
They have since expanded to add a spa

“Sharon was making bacon sandwiches for our first customers on a George Foreman grill from Argos when we started 15 years ago.

“She thought she’d got it made when we were able to afford a gas griddle, but then I thought she’d completely lost the plot when she bought a coffee machine that had a higher value than the cabin it was sat in.

“We’d started it because we needed another income. When the price of wheat had gone below the cost of production about five years before it had been a nightmare and I felt we had to do something to protect ourselves in future. Fortunately, Sharon had a good job with a food manufacturing company at that time.

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“I’d got into clay pigeon shooting as a weekend activity after I’d retired from playing rugby.”

Nearly 10 years ago Tom and Sharon made a huge step when they opened their clubhouse facilities. It marked them out as the best venue of its kind for miles around but Tom said he is still very aware of the costs.

“The levels of investment are frightening. On the farm our last tractor cost £260,000 and the shooting school clubhouse was near to £1m by the time we’d had it all furnished.

“It’s still not fully paid for at the minute, but it is on track for when we had planned. Covid has made the business a bit bumpy.

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“We are 25 per cent down on pre-Covid, but the income has been close to taking over the farm’s income until this year’s good grain price. The margins on the shooting school are definitely better.”

Tom said there are major differences to running a farm and a business that needs people to operate it and people as daily visiting customers.

“You have to be a people person and sometimes need another layer of skin. Years ago our farm would have employed eight people, now it is just me and one man, John Salter, who has been with me for 27 years. Sharon’s uncle had worked with us for just shy of 50 years. We’ve probably employed 27 in and out of the shooting school in the past three years.

“It is very different, but on the really good side we’ve started some young people on their careers and at least three lads who started their working life journey with us have gone on to great employers elsewhere as engineers.

“We have great links with Snaith School.”

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One of the biggest lessons Tom has learned in the past 15 years is that ladies are much more attentive than men when they first attend Park Lodge.

“Ladies are very good at shooting because they listen very attentively to the instructor. Most men tend to rock up and think they can do it just because they are men. It’s not the case.

“Couples who come together initially will often end up shooting individually because the lady is normally beating the man.”

Tom and Sharon opened the spa, which includes treatments, a sauna, hexagonal cabin with central fire and large hot tub overlooking open countryside, as an alternative to shooting.

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“We started the spa because it was another option for ladies if they were not into shooting, but with the increased popularity of spa days we get people who just come for that.”

Prior to the pandemic Tom and Sharon had visions of tipis, pods and a wedding venue. Tom said they have all been put on temporary hold.

“The majority of our growth has been organic and we had still been growing year on year until Covid hit us. We used our time wisely, updating our clubhouse that incorporates meeting and function rooms but Covid has affected our thirst for investing just at the moment.

“We had to furlough staff on three occasions. We will look at those other plans once we have recouped the ground we had lost during the past two years.

“It will be a gradual build up before we start digging into what we had plans for prior to the pandemic and its repercussions.”