Past, Present & Future
Nethergill Farm was the result of just two families' lifelong ambition to create a sustainable wildlife haven and long term conservation project. Situated in Langstrothdale at the headwaters of the Wharfe on the Dales Way, it is no ordinary farm…
Set in 400 acres between 1,200 and 1,600 feet above sea level, Nethergill nestles quietly into the hillside below the road to Hawes. With 70 acres of ‘in bye’ or grazing land around the house and the rest, exposed, wet, peaty, unproductive moorland, the land is perfect for our rare breed Belted Galloway cattle and the native wildlife of the Dales.
The large Victorian Farmhouse and traditional farm buildings were built in 1871 and the original occupant a Mr Woodd, cousin to the famous naturalist Charles Darwin.
The Beginning - The Clarks
From a college romance (Seale Hayne Agricultural college, Newton Abbot), Chris and Fiona Clark began their farming careers rearing outdoor pigs on the Loseley Park Estate near Guildford, Surrey. Their pigs enjoyed the organic pastures and chocolate ice cream ‘left overs’ from the Loseley Dairy. After 10 years of ‘hands on’ experience they successfully sold the business and retrained in Graphic Design and Marketing. The Clarks bought Nethergill in November 2005 and in 2014 finished the development of 2 self-catering haylofts, the field centre and 2 observation hides, as well as installing ‘Bertha’ the biomass boiler to provide all our heat and hot water and solar panels to provide 75% of our electricity needs.
The Present - The Thomases
Dave and Helen Thomas met in 2007 in the heady pre-recession days of corporate life in London. Despite enjoying the pleasures of city life every weekend was spent escaping to the country to research land management, rewilding and conservation. Dave's parents Malcolm and Helen (yes, another Helen) shared this vision and when the opportunity to purchase Nethergill presented itself in 2019 the Thomases embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. With Willow and Ash we welcome the third generation of Thomases to Nethergill Farm. In addition to their farm life Dave founded the renowned London fitness company The Foundry, and was a founding trustee for The School of Hard Knocks and Helen was the executive assistant to one of the UK's biggest environmental philanthropists.
The Future
Looking to the future... we are gradually changing the way we manage the farm and taking a much more 'wilding' approach. Having sold our ewes in 2018 we are now running some of our neighbour's Belted Galloways across the land in small numbers to lightly graze the land and enhance the biodiversity.
Future plans to enhance the experience for day visitors and guests include:
Develop further wild glamping accommodation.
Build a world-class fitness centre
Run a variety of woodworking and metalworking workshops
Build a boardwalk to increase the accessibility of the various habitats for all visitors
Wildlife Enhancement
To further enhance the wildlife across the farm and to particularly encourage Red Squirrels, we have planted an area of 30 acres of moorland with mixed-species woodland totalling 20,000 trees in conjunction with the National Parks and Forestry Commission. The planting area runs close to Greenfield Forest, which has been declared the 17th Red Squirrel reserve in Britain, is called Ellbeck Wood.
Very Free Range Chickens
Nethergill chickens have access to the whole farm and produce delicious eggs of all colours and sizes. Self-catering guests are welcome to purchase eggs (subject to availability in winter).