Mill Farm Studios

Words Jo Denbury Photography Katharine Davies

It is a sunny kind of day in Bradford Abbas as I bounce my way along the track to Mill Farm. To my right, alpacas watch idly from lush meadows, willow trees are in first flush and a shepherd’s hut encircled by dandelions stands on the bank of the Yeo.

Idyllic. But it wasn’t always like this. When Anne and Mark O’Reilly first decided to look for a place they expected to end up in Wales. Mark didn’t really mind where he lived provided it gave him an opportunity to keep animals and encourage wildlife, while Anne was more interested in a home’s history. When Mill Farm came onto the market they snapped it up and began to renovate the farmhouse and buildings as funds allowed.

Today, a large, solid gate slides open and Mark, jolly and bearded, beckons me in. I am greeted by a pristine farmhouse built of Sherborne stone and an array of outbuildings that have evolved into an exciting mix of recording studio, dining venue and cottages that provide accommodation to visiting musicians. Mark leads me into the studio (once the barn) and we head upstairs to the bar (yes, bar) for a coffee – it’s still early after all. >

Mark, it soon becomes clear, is a collector. The walls of the studio bar are adorned by limited edition signature guitars, co-designed and built to the specifications of artists the likes of David Gilmour, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills, John Lennon… The list goes on. ‘The musicians who record here are welcome to play them,’ says Mark. It must be tempting to think, as a guitarist looking to pull off a dizzying Gilmour-esque solo, that you might stand a better chance if using the same instrument.

Mark left school in the 70s and without a plan. ‘I’m dyslexic, which posed a challenge and I floated about a bit,’ he says. ‘I used to hang out at the offices of Queen’s record label. I’ll never forget the day I met Marc Bolan,’ he reminisces. In 1976, after a couple of years in search of himself, Mark attended Sandhurst Military Academy and joined the Irish Hussars. ‘I enjoyed the army enormously,’ he says, recalling tours in Iraq and Northern Ireland among others.

Coffees finished, we head downstairs past more guitars and into the recording studio. It’s a homely space, made all the more welcoming by studio manager and producer Tom Jobling. Interestingly, Tom chooses to work from his mixing desk in the live room alongside the artists, rather than in a booth behind a glass screen. ‘I can be a part of the band in here,’ explains Tom. ‘And the recording process becomes a lot more organic.’

Mark first met Tom after seeing him perform with his band Sorry About Shaun at Larmer Tree Festival.‘We got talking and had a natural synergy,’ explains Mark. ‘I asked him to come here and run the studio!’ Now, surrounded by all the bells and whistles a sound engineer could ask for, Tom is in his element.

As well as the visiting bands who utilise the charming accommodation available, Tom and Mark are keen to invite local artists to record here as well as encourage schools to use the facilities. Hosting comes naturally to Mark, thanks in part to his French maternal grandmother, Germaine Caillaud. ‘She left Marseille during the Second World War,’ explains Mark. ‘She brought her daughter (my mother) but had to leave her son behind because he was poorly. Three ships left but only one made it, two went down. My grandmother and my mother made it to England but they never saw her son again,’ he recounts.

After the war and an association with the legendary Les Ambassadeurs Club in Mayfair, Germaine went on to create the Omelette Club and La Clairière >

restaurant in Hertfordshire – a hangout for writers, artists and other creative types. From there Germaine opened the Lou Pescadou in Padstow, a wellknown fish restaurant (the premises of which were subsequently purchased by Rick Stein), before retiring with her husband to Carcassonne in southern France.

‘This is where we host our own Omelette Club,’ says Mark leading me into their dining room next to the recording studio. A hand-painted sign in honour of his grandmother’s enterprises hangs on the wall. They host regular dinners, tastings and wine pairings with chef Oli Kahan through the Mill Farm Dining Society, a platform that champions independent local producers and suppliers.

The dining room looks out over a menagerie of exotic wildfowl, chickens and sheep. We head outside to explore and are joined by Anne (she’s been delayed at Sainsbury’s – it can happen to the best of us). Anne too has a military background and served with the WRNS. In 2004 Mark and Anne formed Mabway, a company providing specialist training, role-play and casualty simulation to the defence, maritime and railway sectors. It’s fascinating work and often on a scale worthy of a blockbuster movie set. It also plays perfectly to the couple’s collective strengths – Anne serving as filter and facilitator to Mark’s tireless and occasionally wayward imagination. ‘Anne’s first response is usually “no”,’ says Mark, with a twinkle in his eye.

‘When Mark left the world of defence he had hair down to his waist, which for a cavalry officer was quite a thing. We were in the Cavalry and Guards Club, and he had a ponytail!’ Anne whispers. ‘We both love music and wildlife,’ she continues. ‘Coming from a typically uncreative military career, this is a fantastic outlet for us.’

‘I was a shy child with a lisp, so my mum sent me to drama lessons. I joined the choirs at school and then had a band at university – it went from there really,’ Anne explains. She and Mark now perform as The Ducks with Tom and fellow musicians. ‘I had always sung a bit. I like the community of musicians. It is so strong – old or young.’ Their shared love of music, community and playing the host has almost inevitably led to them organising a series of festivals – Mill Farm Folk Festival in May, Mill Farm Party in July and Summer’s End in September. The festivals are now in their fourth year and even continued (on an imaginatively socially distanced scale) during the pandemic.

We’re walking among the animals now and I have fallen completely in love with the Ouessant sheep and their lambs. Originating from the island of Ouessant, off the Brittany coast, they are one of the world’s smallest breeds. Mark tells me he initially bought them to keep the grass down but is clearly smitten. ‘He is an animal person,’ adds Anne, ‘I suggested we get a bit of land and it’s turned into this.’ We head off to meet the alpacas via the millpond and its hidden kingfishers.

From across the meadow, we look back towards the house and barns. ‘When we first looked at this house, we sat on the bank of the Yeo, near where the shepherd’s hut is now located, took in the view and decided to go for it,’ explains Anne. We chat facing the festival stage – raised to a height safe from the area’s winter floods – where Mark, Anne and friends will be performing this summer. ‘There are so many good bands around here,’ says Mark. ‘It’s important to us that we give them a chance to come and record and perform.’ ‘We just want people to come and have fun, bring the family, have a picnic and enjoy the music,’ adds Anne.

‘Fun’ is the operative word at Mill Farm. Mark and Anne have worked very long and hard building their company, riding out the inevitable peaks and troughs and making all the sacrifices that come with running a business. They are now, to a degree, liberated and have earned the right to enjoy themselves. The fact that we are invited to enjoy it with them makes it all the more rewarding. See you at the cider tent!

millfarmdorset.com

___________________________________________ Saturday 30th July 12pm-11pm Mill Farm Party Live music from The Charlie Cole Band, Mighty One, Rebecca Chambers & The New Tricks Jazz Trio, The Ducks, Dream Robbery. Festival bar, food, local cider, ales and picnic hampers.

Saturday 3rd September 12pm-11pm Summer’s End Festival Live music from Rip It Up, The Intercepters, Dark Alley, Who Let The Ducks Out and more… Festival bar, food, local cider, ales and picnic hampers.

Mill Farm, Bradford Abbas, Dorset DT9 6RE Tickets available via millfarmdorset.com/events Enquiries: events@millfarmdorset.com