Farm Of The Week: Holiday homes gamble reaping rewards

A father and son team have converted disused farm buildings into holiday homes. Ben Barnett paid a visit.
James and Paul Middlebrook  of Keepers Cottage, Brayton  outside one of their log cabin holiday lets.James and Paul Middlebrook  of Keepers Cottage, Brayton  outside one of their log cabin holiday lets.
James and Paul Middlebrook of Keepers Cottage, Brayton outside one of their log cabin holiday lets.

Paul Middlebrook started growing mushrooms at the age of four and went on to successfully co-run a family enterprise which turned out more than 12m lbs of mushrooms a year, employed hundreds of people and supplied the big retailers.

Now aged 76 and with nearly 30 years having passed since he sold the business that was started by his father, Stanley, and which he continued to grow with his late brother Peter, he has been busy at work on what his son James says, with a knowing grin, is his “retirement project”.

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Paul is a man who likes a project and his latest mission has been to transform 18th century farm buildings into eco-friendly holiday cottages and open holiday cabins with private hot tubs on land nearby.

Having got started in 2010, there are now three cottages available for lettings and four log cabins on his arable farm. Planning permission is also in place for another eight cabins to be built in the coming years.

The group of properties, known as Mackinder Farms, sleep a maximum of 35 guests in total and are peacefully tucked away off the A63, next to the Selby Canal towpath. It is a stone’s throw away from the village where Paul grew up, Brayton in Selby.

His son, James, a former car salesman and a keen runner, manages the properties and lives in nearby Hemingbrough. He is the face of the business when guests come to stay.

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Holidaymakers from across the country and from as far away as Australia and America have booked a stay via letting agents Welcome Cottages and their sister brand, cottages4you, and a large chunk of bookings have been repeat customers. It’s given the duo confidence that they are getting it right.

Paul and James sit down inside one of their beautifully converted cottages, named The Hayloft, and explain how the project came about originally.

Paul bought the farmland at Mackinder 15 years ago and started out by running pigs. After six years, he changed tack and went down the arable route. He now farms more than 240 acres in the area in conjunction with Guy Poskitt, the successful carrot grower, but decided he couldn’t let the original farm buildings at Mackinder go to waste – that’s when he had the idea to branch out into hospitality.

Paul says: “They were such lovely buildings so it was a choice of getting them knocked down and putting in more practical farm buildings or this.

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“It was all a gamble. We had no idea how successful it would be so we thought the only way to find out was to get started.

“The first one was Stables Cottage which is built from the stone that was originally from another older farm building, we think. We discovered the foundations of a building when we were excavating to put in the drainage and the bricks seemed to match.

“Once we got the first cottage open, we decided to keep going and get on with it, so we opened the next cottage in time for the next holiday season and we’re happy with what we’ve done.”

The second cottage, which was converted at the same time as their third, is where we are sat now. It has features constructed from bricks that date back around 240 years and a high ceiling with the barn’s original wooden beams restored and reset against a white background. Next door, the third cottage is called The Forge in a nod to its former use as a workshop for James to work on rally cars.

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Eggborough and Drax power stations can be spotted on the horizon but Paul and James never had any doubts about the location.

Paul says: “We have lived here all our lives and they don’t bother us. Then you look at the transport links and you can see why this is the right location for holiday accommodation.”

James adds: “We think of Selby as the gateway to York, and the coast, the Moors and the Dales are all about an hour away. You’re never far from anywhere and we find that families spread out all over the country will meet up here to have a holiday because of our location.”

As for interior design, Paul and James have stuck to a strategy.

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“We sat down and thought what would we want and it’s been led by that ethos,” says James.

No corners were cut on the construction of the cabins.

“The cabins are made up of circular logs and built log by log,” explains Paul.

“It’s created some interesting situations because the logs shrink by 5mm in their first five years and we have had to take that into consideration when putting the kitchens and bathrooms in.

“Overall, with the quality we have invested in, it will take a longer time to pay off, but we have created something that we are very proud of.”

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A luxury touch, but one which is totally in keeping with the eco-friendly design of the accommodation, is that each cottage and cabin has underfloor heating powered by ground source heat pumps. Each of the three heat pumps serving the site require three 80-metre-deep bore holes to make the system work. Another bore hole provides drinking water.

Screened by a hedgerow is a row of 207 ground array solar panels, capable of a combined power output of 50 kilowatts. 
“We get first dibs on any electricity we generate and anything we don’t use we export back to the National Grid,” says Paul.

“It’s very much weather dependent but their performance have exceeded expectations so far.”

So effective have the panels been, that the entire farm’s electricity bill for June was just £200.

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Paul says James is a natural with guests, a talent which James credits to his years of experience working in sales.

“I’m on call 24-7 and will stop for a chat if the guests want that.

“It’s nice when families come. The children tend to mix together and make new friends. It’s something we know ourselves from years of going on caravan holidays as a family.”

To book a stay at Mackinder Farms, call 01757 228008 or visit www.cottages4you.co.uk

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