Holy Farm by Nigel Slack, Stuart Stuart Chambers and Robert Robert Johnston
In 2003, Charles and Gillian Giles decided to open up their arm to the paying public, in response to diminishing proits rom their milk and cereals acti!ities" #hey in!ested all their sa!ings into building a $0%space car park and an area &ith spaces or si' $0%seater buses, a sae !ie&ing area or the milking parlour, special trailers or passengers to be transported around the arm on guided tours, a permanent e'hibition o e(uipment, a )rare breeds* paddock, a children*s ad!enture playground, a picnic area, a rea, a mai+e ma+e and a arm shop" ehind the arm shop they built a small )actory* making real dairy ice cream, &hich also pro!ided or public !ie&ing" Ingredients or the ice cream, pasteuri+ed cream and eggs, sugar, la!ourings, etc", &ere bought out, although this &as not ob!ious to the !ie&ing public" Gillian took responsibility or all these thes e ne& acti!ities and Charles continued to run the commercial arming business" #hrough ad!ertising, gi!ing lectures to local schools and local organi+ations, the number o !isitors to the arm increased steadily" y 200- Gillian became so in!ol!ed in running her business that she &as unable to gi!e so much time to these promotional acti!ities, and the number o paying !isitors le!elled out at around ./,000 per year" lthough the arm opened to the public at .."00 am and closed at 1"00 pm ater milking &as inished, up to 0 per cent o !isitors in cars or coaches &ould arri!e later than .2"30 pm, picnic until around 2"00 pm, and tour the arm arm until about $"00 pm" y that time, around ar ound 20 per cent &ould ha!e !isited the arm shop and let, but the remainder &ould &ait to !ie& the milking, then !isit the shop to purchase ice cream and other produce, and then depart" Gillian opened the arm to the public each year rom pril to ctober inclusi!e" 4emand &ould be too lo& outside this period, the conditions &ere oten unsuitable or regular tractor rides, and most o the animals had to be kept inside" 5arly e'perience had conirmed that mid%&eek demand &as too lo& to 6ustiy opening, but 7riday to 8onday &as commercially !iable, &ith almost e'actl y t&ice as many !isitors on Saturdays and a nd Sundays as on 7ridays 7ridays or 8onday 8ondays" s" Gillian Gillian summed summed up the situati situation" on" ‘I have decided to attempt to increase the number of farm visitors visitor s in 2008 by 50 per cent. This would not only improve our return on “farm tours” assets but also would help the farm shop to achieve its tar!ets and the e"tra sales of ice cream would help to #eep the “factory” at full output. The real problem is whether to promote sales to coach firms or to intensify local advertisin! to attract more families in cars. $e could also consider tie%ups with schools for educational visits but I would not want to use my farm !uide staff on any e"tra wee#days as &harles needs them three days per wee# for “real” farmin! wor#. 'owever most of the farm wor#ers are !lad of this e"tra of wor# as if fits in well with their family life and helps them to save up for the lu"uries most farm wor#ers cannot afford.(
The milking parlour 9ith ./0 co&s to milk, Charles in!ested in a )carousel* parlour &here co&s are milked on a slo&%mo!ing turntable" 8ilking usually lasts rom $"30 pm to 1"00 pm, during &hich time !isit !isitor orss can !ie& !ie& rom rom a purp purpose ose%b %bui uilt lt galle gallery ry &hic &hich h has has spac spacee and and e'pl e'plan anato atory ry tape tape recordings, !ia headphones, or t&el!e people" Gillian has ound that on a!erage spectators like like to &atch &atch or or ten minu minute tes, s, incl includ udin ing g i!e i!e minu minute tess or or the the e'pla e'plana nato tory ry tape" tape" ‘$e(re sometimes a bit busy on )aturdays and )undays and a *ueue often develops before +.00 pm as some people want to see the mil#in! and then !o home. ,nfortunately neither &harles nor the cows are prepared to start earlier. 'owever most people are patient and everybody !ets their turn to see this bit of hi!h technolo!y. In a busy period up to 80 people per hour pass throu!h the !allery.(
The ice cream ‘factory’ #he actory is operated $: &eeks per year, our days per &eek, eight hours per day, throughout the year" #he three employees, arm &orkers* &i!es, are e'pected to &ork in line &ith arm opening rom pril to ctober, but hours and days are by negotiation in other months" ll output is in one%litre plastic bo'es, o &hich 3/0 are made e!ery day, &hich is the ma'imum mi'ing and ast%ree+ing capacity" lthough e'tra mi'ing hours &ould create more unro+en ice cream, the present e(uipment cannot saely and ully ast%ree+e more than 3/0 litres o!er a 2$%hour period" Ice cream that is not ully ro+en cannot be transerred to the inished goods ree+er, as slo&er ree+ing spoils the te'ture o the product" s it takes about one hour to clean out bet&een la!ours, only one o the our la!ours is made on any day" #he inished goods ree+er holds a ma'imum o .0,000 litres, but to allo& stock rotation, it cannot in practice be loaded to abo!e 1,000 litres" Ideally no ice cream should be held more than si' &eeks at the actory, as the total recommended storage time is only t&el!e &eeks prior to retail sale ;there is no preser!ati!e used<" 7inished goods in!entory at the end o 4ecember 2001 &as 3,-00 litres" Gillian*s most recent igures indicated that all la!ours cost about =$"00 per litre to produce ;!ariable cost o materials, packaging and labour<" #he actory layout is by process &ith material preparation and &eighing sections, mi'ing area, packing e(uipment, and separate ree+ing e(uipment" It is operated as a batch process"
