Raisthorpe Manor, Yorkshire Wolds: History of Yorkshire estate and how the business benefits from its location named one of The Sunday Times’ best places to live

The Medforth family have farmed at Raisthorpe estate since 1969 and in classic Yorkshire farm fashion, it grows wheat, barley, oil seed rape and potatoes.

Julia and her husband David took over the business in the late 1980s and have two sons, Oliver and Edward who are also involved in the business.

Throughout the early 2000s, Julia was making raspberry gin for people who participated in their simulated game shooting sessions. The gin became so popular that people were asking to buy it. This is when Raisthorpe Fine Foods was born.

The estate itself used to be a village that was referenced in the Domesday Book in the 11th century. The community diminished drastically in the mid-1300s during the Black Death outbreak.

“In the olden days it used to be a village and Raisthorpe community were affected by the plague, they all died in the village,” Mrs Medforth said.

“The Raisthorpe got the Black Plague and a lot of people died here, which sounds awful. It used to belong to a bigger estate, Gledmere.”

Raisthorpe is located in the Yorkshire Wolds which has been named one of the best places to live by The Sunday Times in March this year.

The Wolds have unique qualities that benefit the Medforth gin business.

“We obviously love it out here and we used to water from the underground springs called the Gypsy Race,” Mrs Medforth said.

“We use the water to produce our gin and it runs underneath Raisthorpe. There are lots of fissures underneath the cracks under the chalk.

“The Wolds are very chalky, so it has naturally filtered spring water; it runs all the way down through the valleys to Bridlington. It’s unique to Raisthorpe.”

The new Labour farm tax has affected many farmers across the country, Mrs Medforth said.

“I don’t know what will happen with the new Labour [policy] with the inheritance tax. You never know what’s going to happen.

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“It’s affecting all farmers, when they’ve had farms that have been in the family for a long time, it’s very worrying.

“There are going to be marches in London. A lot of farmers still have to diversify to make ends meet.”

The origins of the word ‘thorpe’ comes from the Middle English word for a hamlet or small village and there are many place names in England with the suffix ‘-thorpe’ or ‘-thorp’ such as Pensthorpe, Fridaythorpe and Burythorpe.

There are many reasons why the Yorkshire Wolds has been named one of the best places to live as well as some negatives about living in a remote village. Mrs Medforth shared her thoughts on this.

“The landscape of the Dales, the scenery and the beauty of the Yorkshire Wolds. We do appreciate it, we’re very lucky to live out here and look after the countryside,” she said.

“I’ve lived in the Yorkshire Wolds since I was married 30 years ago, but the family has lived here for much longer.

“We don’t want anymore people coming because we like it the way it is. David Hockney painted some of his trees and they’re all of the Wolds. He painted on the boundaries of Raisthorpe.

“The Wolds has big skies, an open landscape and lots of public bridleways, it’s nice walking up and down. The landscape is quite dramatic in some places. In winter it is very [festive], we’re always about two degrees cooler than in York.

“There are pros and cons; trying to run a business [here] is slightly difficult logistically but we like to use local people that live in villages around to work here.

“We do have big problems with WiFi here and we only got a proper TV with a satellite only 15 to 20 years ago.”