North York Moors farmer who is Helmsley Races clerk of the course marks Duncombe Park golden milestone

Tomorrow, Adam will be back at his familiar home at this time of year, presiding over the Point to Point meeting which celebrates 50 years of being held at Duncombe Park, pointing often being the training ground for potential future ‘Dessies’.

“This will be my 40th year,” says Adam. “It was my farmer friend Mark Rooke, who I first met through Young Farmers, who enlisted me. He was then Clerk of the Course.

Adam says although he’s hardly ever ridden, he enjoys being involved and gets his satisfaction from the smiles it puts on others faces.

“It’s a great sport. The people that run horses don’t win any money as such. They do it because they love it.

“There’s Mark, Dave Johnson and myself who set the layout, including the portable fences. Everyone has their jobs. Dave and I put the stakes out. The Easterbys come and knock them in. Dave builds the parade ring.

“We start working towards the February meeting in September. Duncombe Park is used for other events and our first job is to sort out any of the grass that might need replacing. We use a composting peat that Mark brings, put grass seed on and grass over any areas that need it. About Christmas time Dave and I mark out where the jumps are going to go, by late January we put the jumps in place.

Jumps are the essential requirement of a meeting and Adam says they have the best fence makers in the business.

“We like to set the fences up preferably with a frost or good dry land, so that we don’t damage the land with machinery. Once we’ve got the jumps out Bill Gardner and his son-in-law Dec come from Bishop Auckland and do a cracking job in making sure the jumps look fantastic using new birch.

“The week before, we’re there nearly every day, at least five hours a day and the day after. We have a number of people who look after the jumps on the day, some who’ve done it as long as I have. They’re brilliant and know exactly what to do to make them right between races.

Adam says there have been three courses during his time and one of the main reasons for any change has been horse and jockey safety.

“You’re better jumping uphill than downhill. Years back we had three jumps down the far side of today’s course, all going downhill. We had too many horses falling. We now have no jumps on the long downhill stretch.

Horses also play a significant part in Adam’s life away from Helmsley Races. His horse transportation business, that came about through ferrying ‘Dessie’ has developed into a regular European adventure, but farming remains his core.

“We farm 85 acres including owned and rented land,’ says Adam. “That’s myself and our son Will, who is a salesman for farm machinery dealers Paxton’s. Will and I share the work on the farm. I like to give him his head. He’s the third generation and has two young sons.

“I was born at Manor Farm which used to run to 120 acres. When I took over the farm in 1989 we had 30 acres. Sue and I have gathered up bits and pieces of land since and we have pigs, cattle, cereal crops, the horse transportation and Sue’s bed and breakfast business she’s run for 34 years.

“Sue comes from Wakefield and was working for Lady Henrietta, the Marquis of Normanby’s daughter, at Thirsk, who was riding event horses. We met through Young Farmers. I was a member at Helmsley YFC.

“We’ve had pigs on a bed and breakfast arrangement for Ian Mosey for 20 years. When I took over the farm in 1989 we had two chicken sheds but we didn’t make any money at chickens. Next we went into turkeys through Farmer’s Glory, we built another shed. There were highs and lows and we didn’t lose any money on them but when we went out of them we went with Ian.

“We have about 40 cattle that we get at about three weeks old from Andrew Potter in Farndale. They’re British Blue crosses and are good to work with, friendly. We take them through to 19-20 months. They go to Ruswarp livestock market as strong stores and sometimes a farmer in the next village. They have 5-6 months out at grass.

Adam says arable cropping plays its part too at Gillamoor.

“We have 30 acres of wheat, 10 acres of spring barley and 10 acres of potatoes, rotating the potatoes around the farm. Tim Rooke of Stonegrave rents the land. They do our spraying and fertilising. We have the same agronomist as well, so that we don’t have a cross over of blackgrass. We swap muck for straw with them, our pig muck goes to Tim’s farm.

“Our winter wheat did well last year in a difficult year. We grew Dawsum.

“Our establishment in autumn 2023 saw lifting of potatoes on 2 November. I was away transporting horses at the time. Lifting started a 9 o’clock in the morning and by 6 o’clock the same day Will had got all the wheat in, a tremendous effort. After that it was never dry until late spring. If he hadn’t got it in then, we never would have got it in.

Adam says that Sue’s farmhouse bed and breakfast is, rather like the farm, a traditional farm enterprise.

“We have three rooms. We converted the old dairy into a couple of rooms and have one inside the farmhouse. There are not many like ours anymore and we have quite a lot of repeat customers.

“People like that we are a working farm, where they can look out of their window and see the calves in one of the sheds. If I’m about I’ll drive them about, show them the animals. It does a lot of good, showing people what we do and what farming’s all about.

Adam says having ‘Dessie’ at Manor Farm was special.

“When ‘Dessie’ retired his owner Mr Burridge asked whether we would we like to have him here for part of the year. We had a few of his horses in our small yard that had eight horses at livery years ago and now just has two. Dessie came with a truck that was a biscuit tin on wheels. We had a lovely time with him.

“In 2006 I got a farm diversification grant that funded half of a new two staller box and I started transporting horses everywhere. I now go to Europe twice a month.

“Sue and our daughter Beth, who is now a helicopter electronics engineer in Somerset, both rode, but none of us have ever ridden Point to Point. But we all love Helmsley Races and we’re all very grateful that the Duncombe family are hosting for their 50th year.

Helmsley Races at Duncombe Park, tomorrow Sunday 16 February.