Moving from their home in Birtsmorton Court, Worcestershire, the Padfield family take over the tenancy of The Hawthorns – a farm located on the border between Corse and Staunton, Gloucestershire. The Hawthorns was valued at £252.
October 8th 1905
During the Second World War, Gerry Harris was evacuated from his home in 1940 to live at The Hawthorns for part of his time away from the South East. It has been a joy to hear from Gerry in recent months and listen to his happy memories of that time.
1940
We invested in our first tractor – a Ferguson T20 and the cart horses were put out to grass.
1948
Norton H Padfield formed a partnership with his son, Richard (Dick) Padfield – NH Padfield & Son. This same year, 358 acres were purchased for £13,500.
The estate was incorporated in 1958.
1953
The binder, sheaves and annual threshing machine visit were confined to history and we invested in our first combine harvester, a Massey Harris 726 bagger. Dick Padfield drove the machine back from Cirencester, around 30 miles away, at a maximum speed of 7 mph!
1954
We won the Gloucestershire Root, Fruit and Grain Society prize for best crop of wheat with Hybrid 46 in Roundmoors, near to Eldersfield church. This field continues to break yield records. The Gloucester Citizen came to photograph the crop being harvested and the harvesting team.
1960
We invested in a new combine harvester, Massey Harris 788 and changed to bulk storage and on-floor drying of grain.
1962
Richard returns to the farm after school, university and eight months in Nigeria.
1971
During the drought of 1976, Richard (right) stepped up to take over the management of the estate from his father, Dick (left). Richard was significant in transforming The Hawthorns and remains integral to the day-to-day running of the farm and estate.
1976
We invested in our very first purpose-built 1000 tonnes, under-floor ventilated grain store.
1982
In the winter months, we used our superb workforce to start converting old redundant buildings into workshops. These were let to local trades and craftsmen and small businesses.
1988
We built our first silage clamps to enable us to produce and feed high-quality silage on the farm without needing to bale.
This was also the fateful year that BSE tore through the British countryside.
1996
After 12 years, we decided to take the bold step to convert the workshops into offices. This marked the beginning of our Business Centre enterprise. In 2003, we completed phase two of our office development and now have 20 office and workshop units for rent.
2000
Following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, grandfather and father, Chris becomes custodian of The Hawthorns Estate.
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