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Lottie Hill

Behind every great man . . .

If you went to the Bath & West show this year you may agree with me that the star of the show was not Prince Charles, or even Camilla, but 6 year old Archie Hill, of Decoy Pool Farm, home to Nyland Hill Farm Shop.

With his 4 month old Limousin calf, Archie not only won the beef junior showman prize for children age 10 and under, but also achieved an impressive runner up award in the under 21 category too.  His achievements were widely reported in the press, to read more click here . 

Llike most famous men in history, Archie does not work alone and he is the first to acknowledge the help he has received from his twin sister, Lottie, who won two prizes in her own right at the Bath and West in the misshapen and decorated eggs classes.

I went to Decoy Pool Farm to meet Lottie, to learn about training a calf for show and to find out more about the farm shop that their parents run. 

Lottie is a bright bubbly girl, full of smiles who happily chats away, munching on a handful of chocolate eggs from a huge bag full destined for cake decorating, repeatedly offering me one until I can resist no longer.  She tells me that she and her brother named Eviee just after she was born on 24th January and looked after her from then on. 

“We had to start by getting her used to walking on a halter gradually, with one of us leading and the other walking behind.  She’s really strong, once she ran away!” Lottie says, laughing at the memory, “she tried to charge back to her mother, but the gate was closed, we had to get Mum to come and help us."

Whilst most 6 year olds are happy role playing with their plastic farm animals Lottie and Archie do it fo real: once Eviee was used to the halter Archie practised walking around with her, as if in the show ring and Lottie pretended to be the judge or the audience, to get her used to noise and disturbance. “We did it lots and lots of times” she says enthusiastically.

Lottie was also responsible for getting Eviee ready on show day “I washed her with special soap and brushed her carefully all over” she says.

Although both parents have a farming background, the passion for showing cattle clearly comes from Dad, Nick Hill, a Livestock Marketing Specialist for Meadow Quality, with many prizes to his name for his Quaish herd of Pedigree British Limousin cattle.  He grew up on a farm in North Wootton, which coincidentally was the same farm that Lisa’s mother Barbara Sprague, grew up on.

Nick and Lisa Hill have lived at Decoy Pool Farm for 16 years and opened Nyland Hill Farm Shop 3 years ago.  When the strawberry stand at the end of their road came up for sale they looked into buying that before opting to set up at home, converting the old dairy.  If you’ve never been, or haven’t visited for a while, it’s well worth a trip; the shop has grown over the 3 years, with many new products added as a result of customers’ suggestions.

You are likely to be greeted by ducks, hens, roosters and guinea fowl and welcomed onto the pleasant seating area by the resident goats and alpacas eyeing the bucket of carrots that you are encouraged to feed them.  With children (or indeed without!) you can easily spend an afternoon, as we did recently, scrambling up Nyland Hill, admiring the panoramic views and maybe spotting wild orchids or choosing a gentler option of encircling the hill or walking out onto the levels.  The promise of an ice cream at the end certainly rallied the troops!

In the shop there is chilled and frozen limousin and ruby red beef from the farm, hung for a full 3 weeks, pork and lamb from Chard, chicken and duck eggs and a good selection of fruit and veg, sourced locally through Somerset Organic Link where possible.  Popular items from out of season or not grown locally are also stocked and there is a fine selection of local cheeses including Somerset Brie & camembert, Draycott blue, Wootton Organic and of course cheddar. The homemade sausage rolls, scotch eggs and lovely old-fashioned cakes are always popular, as is the ice cream from both Mendip Moments and Lovingtons.  There are also some more unusual items such as Jamnastic jams made with honey instead of sugar.

Lottie says her Grandma’s apple crumble is the best thing in the shop, Archie recommends the chocolate chunk ice cream!

The farm shop had always been a dream of Nick’s, but with him working full time much of the work falls to the other two great women in young Archie’s life – his Mum Lisa and Grandmother Barbara.  Barbara spends Wednesdays cooking the cakes and runs the shop on Thursdays and Saturdays, Lisa does all the ordering and stock-taking and makes the swiss rolls, leaving Nick to be ‘the fruit and veg man’.

Last year the family ran a very successful open day with a name the calf competition and a talk from Barbara on different cuts of meat. Here Lottie took centre stage, serving drinks tasters, whilst Archie worked in advance, planting out the compost for the colourful flower beds.  Lisa is contemplating running another this summer, but with a part time teaching job, a shop to run and two very lively children to entertain she’s not sure she needs the challenge!  We’ll let you know when she’s made up her mind.

Lottie may have her own calf to show next year, but in the meantime she’s busy planning her 7th birthday party “it’s going to be a cooking party, we’re going to make special bread animals, chocolate pear cake and lemonade.”  I wish I was invited!

More about Nyland Hill Farm Shop