Teachers turn their hands to farming

Chronicle and Echo/September 9, 1984

'A married couple' both teachers decided to leave the classroom to take up farming.

And they joined the most unusual farming 'family' in Northamptonshire.

'The man' (37) became one of three elders of the Jesus Fellowship who run New Creation Farm at Nether Heyford.

'The Woman' cooks and cleans in the farmhouse, which commands an impressive view towards Northampton.

'The Man', son of an ex-headmaster, said: 'We took the farm over in 1975. We started with 50 acres and we expanded to 200 acres. We try to run it as a reasonably successful farm.'

Some of the farms produce goes to Fellowship houses and businesses, and the rest is sold through normal channels. 'I think our farming folk have got quite well known in the local markets,' he said.

'The Man' joined the Bugbrooke chapel at the age of 18. During his teaching career, including a spell of voluntary work in Central Africa, he spent six-and-a-half years at 'a local' School where he taught mainly religious education and rural studies.

'I always wanted to get back to an outdoor job and coming here in 1976 was like an ambition realised for me,' he said.

'The woman' (31) taught geography before coming to Northampton to teach French.

Now she works full-time in the farmhouse. She said: 'I do cooking and cleaning, washing and ironing; it is quite fulfilling and I enjoy it.' She has been in the community for seven years.

Besides the full-time farm workers, willing hands are drafted in from the other parts of the community at busy times in the agricultural calendar - often making the place a focal point in Fellowship life.

The farm is also the home for Bugbrooke Pastor Noel Stanton, and at the moment his elderly mother is convalescing there.