Farming

Hard work and determination

Stuart Luxton reckons it’s a formula for success

Hello again everyone. While I’m sat here writing, late as ever, I hope that you are reading this while enjoying a great summer.

Normality seems to have returned and I have a feeling we are all due a fantastic spell of weather.

I can’t ever remember a spring as bad as this one, dry cold weather with frost after frost where nothing grew. We were all praying for rain, then obviously when it started it never knew when to stop. At last we now have what the farmers call growing weather. Just remember that when your lawns go mad the animals will have plenty to eat, when your lawns are bare livestock farmers have a problem on their hands.

The spring lambing and calving season has now finished and we have had a good crop of healthy animals with no major dramas, even with the poor weather conditions. Time is rolling on and we will soon be shearing, silage making and putting the bulls to work. I was always told as you get older time goes by much more quickly and this is very much the case now.

As lockdown eases and other businesses re-open, I kept thinking that the shop would become quieter, but we are fortunate that it just seems to keep growing. We have made good progress on the café extension, a bit slower than I would have liked but I would rather have it right than quick.

The enlarged restaurant should be opening in early July and is getting very exciting now. The photo with this article has mum and dad in the background, this is the centerpiece to the café extension, I think this is very fitting, as without them, there would not be a Farmer Luxtons.

Dad was from a farming family who rented a farm near Okehampton in the 1940s. When he was four years old, his father sadly passed away - his mum, Hetty, and grandparents could no

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longer run the farm, so they moved into Okehampton. Years later he met and married mum, a tradesman’s daughter from Okehampton, they borrowed some money to buy a small farm. Through hard work, determination and some clever moves they gradually expanded until they purchased the original family farm, which is where I now live with my family in the house where my dad was born.

I wanted to open a farm shop for many years before we did, but my dad said that I couldn’t as we supplied another local butcher with animals and we would be staying loyal to them.

After some years the situation changed and at this point my dad allowed me to put the wheels in motion to open Farmer Luxtons. It has not been easy but I feel that on the eve of opening the latest extension the shop has become a very successful business. (Hard work and determination might have helped.)

If you visit the shop and the coronavirus situation allows you might meet them. Dad likes nothing more than to park his Landrover in the car park, have a coffee and meet the customers.

Thank you for taking the time to read this - have a lovely summer everyone.

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Stuart Luxton