ORCHARD FARM

Today, Orchard Farm is a flourishing dairy farm of about 130 acres, but over the years an amazing variety of crops have been grown there. The land is situated between Long Lane and Greenways, surrounding the farmhouse and barns with a small cottage by what is now the entrance off Greenways. In earlier times, the main entry was from Long Lane. There are still the remnants of the orchards which gave the farm its name, and are clearly shown on the Ordnance Survey of the 1880s:

The Tithe Map of 1843 shows the farm, owned by Norwich lawyer, Thomas Brightwell, and farmed by Henry Riseborough. By then Henry had been the tenant farmer for over 10 years as he gained the vote in 1832 by reason of occupancy of sufficient land, and in both the 1851 and 1861 census returns the property is named 'Riseborough's Farm'. In the 1841 census, Henry (aged 35) was living there with his young wife, Eliza (aged 20) and their son of 4 months, Thomas. They had married in 1837. By 1851, Henry's widowed mother, Elizabeth (aged 69) had joined them, along with his sister, Elizabeth Tann and family. In 1851 Henry is farming 168 acres with the help of 8 labourers, and in 1861 states that he is now a widower farming 160 acres, employing 5 men and 3 boys. So Henry had slightly more land than Orchard Farm today.

Henry Riseborough died at Flordon on 21st August 1862 and probate went to his son, Thomas Sword Riseborough. No date it took a while to sort out the estate, but if Thomas ever tried his hand at farming he had given up by 1867 when the property was available to rent and its contents up for sale.

Enter the Gaymer family - of cider fame. Edward Thomas Gaymer (1852-1921) was born in Banham, son of William Gaymer (1805-1884) and Rebecca nee Page (1813-1883), and it was his older brother, William Stewart Gaymer (1842-1936) who was the real founder of the business, seeing cider as a commercial proposition. When Edward came to Flordon he was single, and in 1871 his unmarried sisters Mary and Rebecca were with him on a 126-acre farm. He had taken the farm on a long enough lease to be planting the apple trees which gave the farm its later name, and the few gnarled trees that remain could be well over 100 years old.

Edward Gaymer's aspirations may have received a blow when the landowner, Thomas Brightwell, died in November 1868. There is more about Brightwell on the introductory page on Farming and landowners. His large landholding in Flordon was up for auction the following year, including 'A Capital Farm' of just over 126 acres (103 acres arable; 22 acres pasture), in the tenancy of Edward Gaymer, with a further 6 years to run on his lease. Unfortunately we don't know who bought the 17 lots, except for a few fields snapped up by the Rector. But we can be fairly certain Edward continued as tenant rather than owner. An advert in the Norfolk Chronicle, 13 March 1875, states: 'To Let. Farmhouse and buildings... 124 acres arable and pasture, 5 acres orchard, now in the occupation of Mr. Gaymer.' and in 1881 Edward is back with his elderly father in Banham, farming 140 acres. But the Gaymers have not finished with Flordon: at some time in the 1890s Edward returned with a wife and children to live at Hall Farm, or Flordon Hall, and they are buried to the right of the path down to Flordon church (marked by a cross on a plinth).  

The 1881 census shows that 'The Orchards' is now inhabited by a 'retired book maker' (unclear whether that is books or bets!) and 'the Lodge to Orchards' by a farm bailiff. The Lodge is presumably the cottage by the Greenways entry that now has several post-war extensions. In May 1883 the farm was being advertised again as To Let. It was still 'The Orchards' in 1891, and unnamed in 1901, and the farmhouse seems to have been divided between two families: George Fordham, Ag. Lab. and family in part; Arthur Grice, Horseman, with his wife and daughter in the other part. At this time it was owned by Solomon Marshall, who preferred to live at the Station Farmhouse from which he worked both farms and ran the coal yard. After he died, his land, stock, etc were sold by auction in September 1904.

 By 1911, the farm is named Orchard Farm, with John William Palmer as the farmer, probably as a tenant. John Palmer (1863-1954) had 8 children, the two youngest born in Flordon in 1907 and 1910, so it was a crowded house! The family were still there in 1921, but by the time of the 1939 Register the Fincham family were living there.

Orchard Farm under the Finchams

John Henry Fincham (1896-1939) farmed at Anchor Farm (his in-laws farm) at Little Ellingham and also at Lyngwhite Farm in Great Ellingham. After his father-in-laws death they sold Anchor farm to move to land with heavier soil. He came to Flordon in 1934 as a tenant farmer with his wife Agnes and children George (9) and Winifred (6). He ran a mixed farm, with crops, cattle and fowls, was a member of the Parish Council and Chief A.R.P Warden for Flordon. Tragically he was not to enjoy Flordon for long as he died suddenly in February 1939 aged only 42, as a result of a shrapnel wounds to his head received in WW1. He is buried in Little Ellingham churchyard. Young George, only 14, left school to help his mother run the farm (Agnes lived on the farm into old age and died in 1981).

War clouds were gathering, and there was pressure on farmers to mechanise and grow as much food as possible. This pressure grew after war was declared, and unproductive farmers could have their land taken over by more proficient men. George Fincham began his farming career as a boy under this kind of pressure - but his Uncle Charles and neighbouring farmer Geoffrey Webster (of Flordon Hall) rallied round to ensure he succeeded. Charles Fincham moved in as Farm Bailiff in 1939 with his wife Olive. And under George's ownership there was great progress and considerable innovation. Here are some family photos from the late 1940s and early '50s:

In 1952 George married Mary Liddament and in quick succession they had three children Ann, born by the light of a Tilley lamp the day before electricity came to the farm (1953), Pat (1955) and John (1956). Orchard Farm, at that time, was a mixed farm growing wheat, barley, sugar beet, kale, green beans and grass for a dairy herd of Red Polls, Fresians and Jerseys. The sugar beet grown for many years was taken to Flordon Station where it was shovelled into wagons, in the siding, to be taken to the factory. Milk was bottled on the farm and delivered in the local area; the surplus went into churns to be collected at the top of the drive. Later Mrs Fincham added blackcurrants (prized as a source of Vitamin C) and gooseberries, which she managed along with rearing turkeys and looking after the calves. The beans and fruit were picked by the women in the village and weighed in a small nissen hut in the field. The turkeys were killed, plucked and dressed on the farm by locals as well. In fact the farm seasonally employed many people from the village, some live here still or had relatives who did.

At the top of the farm drive on Greenways is a small cottage, known as Orchard Cottage, used over the years by various farm workers. Stanley & Emma Brown were living there with their large family in 1939, although only 5 of their 9 children are listed in the 1939 Register. They were followed by the Doubles: Janet Negal (nee Double) remembers it well - she was born there, when her father worked at nearby Church Farm, Newton Flotman. She writes 'Orchard Cottage had no electricity and no running water. One of my earliest memories is of seeing searchlights from my bedroom window when soldiers were stationed at Hapton Hall.' 

After purchasing the farm in the late 50s, George began to build up his dairy herd of Friesians/Holsteins to raise the milk yield and the fields became largely grass for the dairy herd. Fortunately, the farm avoided any outbreak of Foot & Mouth disease, despite Flordon Hall's herd having to be destroyed and disposed of in sight of Orchard Farm. George tried growing gladioli for a while, but this was not successful. By the late 1960s sprouts were big business.

There were still the remnants of Gaymer's orchards either side of the farmhouse - Ann remembers the gnarled trees and the huge variety of different apples. The field named Oak Meadow (above) had a line of ancient oaks that must have been planted in Elizabethan times or earlier. Many were hollow, and a wonderful playground! The farm was also the venue for the annual Flordon Village Day, with fun and games for everyone.

 George (1925-1997) and Mary (1929-2012) retired and sold the farm in 1990 after 50 years of farming. They moved to Bushmeadow, a house built on the farm in the 1980s for John their son, who later decided farming was not for him. They also retained ten acres of land that backed onto the property where he created a two acre woodland, the remaining eight is rented to Orchard Farm by his daughter Ann. George was Chairman of the Parish Council for over 30 years and retired in April 1997 shortly before his death in the July. Mary moved to Greenways Close in 2002, to be near Ann and family. She died in December 2012 and is buried with George in the churchyard.

[With thanks to Ann nee Fincham for writing most of this]

Orchard Farm today

In December 1990, Mark and Ann Hallidie with their son Geoffrey bought the farm, having sold Manor Farm in Topcroft. Under their management it has continued as a profitable dairy farm with about 180 dairy cows, all Holstein/Friesian cross. All the land is under grass, and milk goes to the Arla Farmers Co-operative, an international farmer-owned company whose 'Farmers Milk' you will find in ASDA.