Dream team Tregondale

Tregondale Farm at Menheniot near Liskeard has a rich farming heritage. For over 100 years, the Rowes have been farmers, with over half of that time spent at Tregondale.

Richard Rowe and his wife, Helen, are the third generation of Rowes to farm the land and maintain the tradition of it being a family-run farm. They run the farm alongside Richard’s parents, Mervyn and Stephanie. Together they proudly fly the Tregondale flag, which, over the years, has diversified to different areas to support the family.

Tregondale today consists of 220 acres, with a further 60 acres they rent. They use the land to support their prize-winning herd of pedigree South Devon cattle and longwool sheep. They also grow their own cereals to be as self-sufficient as possible.

 

Working hard and spotting opportunities

Mervyn bought Tregondale in 1970. The house was pretty run down, and he and Stephanie needed to generate more income to rebuild it. With Mervyn working full time on the farm, Stephanie created a separate B&B business from the farmhouse - a business venture that the family is proud to continue today.

When Richard left school, he did what he had always wanted: stay at home, work on the farm, and build up the business. The next phase of Tregondale’s expansion was in 1988, with the conversion of an old storage building into a two-bedroomed holiday cottage.  Over the years, the family has developed additional attractions on the farm, including creating a games barn, woodland walks and doing guided farm tours to educate guests about farming. Both the holiday cottage and the B&B are busy all year round.

Richard and Helen married in 2001 and now have three grown-up daughters, Charisse, Imogen and Elexis, who help out on the farm when they can. The family plays to each of their strengths and works tirelessly on the farm, B&B, and holiday cottage. However, Richard also provides a contracting service to local individuals and businesses, and Helen works three days a week in admin and finance for the Cornwall Quality Livestock Group.

 

Adapting to survive

Like many livestock farmers, the Rowes were affected by the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001. They realised that having most of their income from livestock made them vulnerable. However, the family rallied around and devised plans to create a new income stream by converting old piggeries into commercial letting units. Stephanie accessed European funding, which was available for converting rural buildings into offices and they did most of the work themselves. They initially had three units, but this has since expanded into four, all of which are fully let.

 

The future is bright; the future is food

Richard and Helen have been keen to use the latest technology to make running the farm as efficient as possible. This includes using software for electronic tagging and registering their pedigree cattle, as well as QuickBooks accounting software to run the farm accounts. They plan to continue using technology to make their food production more cost effective and efficient. They want to reinvest in the farm’s buildings, machinery, and animals and create an opportunity for their daughters to take on the farm, should they want to.

 

Helping to save the farm money

The Rowe family has used Haines Watts and its preceding accountancy firms for decades. The practice prepares the accounts and tax returns for all the different businesses, as well as individual family members.

Richard says;

 

“The team at Haines Watts understand farming and have been instrumental in helping us reinvest and diversify when we needed to. More recently, they have carried out a succession planning exercise to help us guarantee the farm's future. We work closely with them and meet with them several times a year. They have helped us save money and reduce our tax bills, and we consider them part of the Tregondale Team.”