Our History

We can trace our family’s involvement at Greatworth hall back to 1868. This means that, with Rosie, there have now been six generations of our family involved in running the farm.

Our ancestor Francis Cox moved here with his family to start farming as a tenant at Christmas in 1868, having lost the tenancy on his existing farm. Interestingly, as he arrived a new railway line was being built that split the farm in half and, of course, we face the same situation today with HS2!

When Francis Cox took the farm it was a relatively large for those days and comprised around 300 acres. He lived in the farmhouse with his second wife Lydia Maria, since his first wife Sarah had sadly died in 1865. He farmed here until 1898 at which point he retired from farming and the family moved out. Francis and his first wife Sarah had three children, the youngest of whom was Sarah Ann, who married Fredrick Adkins in 1885. Sarah and Fredrick had five sons, the fourth of whom was Stanley Cox Adkins, who would later go on to farm at Greatworth Hall.

Following Francis Cox’s retirement from the farm, the tenancy was taken on by Bert Deeley. Bert was a very successful farmer in the early years of the twentieth century, running a considerable business. He and his wife Florence had three daughters the eldest one of whom was Violet. Stanley Cox Adkins met Violet, fell in love, married and had three children: two girls, Joyce and Ruth, and a son, Ross.

Farming was very tough in the late 20s and the depression years of the 30s, and Bert’s business and his involvement here ended in 1934. We have a sale document on the wall of the Hole in the Hedge Café from when the contents of the house had to be sold. During this time, Stanley worked hard to keep the farm together and after Bert’s death, the owner of the land was pleased to let him take on the tenancy of the farm. So he moved his young family back to the farm where Violet had grown up – what a homecoming for her. Stanley and Violet had previously lived on a different farm in Greatworth and this is still farmed by Timothy and Angela Griffiths. Tim’s mother, Joyce, was Stanley and Violet’s eldest daughter.

Stanley and Violet farmed at Greatworth Hall through the Second World War and into the 1950s. Following a tragic accident in 1950 when Stanley lost his right leg, his son Ross began to get involved in the farm. It was during this decade that the owner of the farm approached Stanley, Violet and Ross and asked if they would be interested in purchasing the farm. What they paid for the farm seems a small amount of money in comparison to how much farms sell for today, but the money took a lot of finding at the time. Nonetheless, they managed to buy it and the farm then came into our ownership.

In 1957, Ross Adkins married Mary Uff, who came from Quainton near Aylesbury and they had three children: Stephen, Lois and Mark. Sadly we lost Mary in 2009 but Ross is still living on the farm and is involved today, even though he is now in his 90s. When Stephen left college in 1980, he became the next generation to be involved in the farm, along with his wife Jane whom he married in 1985. They have three children, Peter, Rosie and James, all of whom are now grown-up and married.

Things have changed at a fast pace over the last 35 years. We have expanded the land we farm and are involved in helping to farm other land on contract. In addition, a range of traditional farm buildings have been converted into high-quality office spaces and workshops which are rented out to businesses.

It is also exciting that a 6th generation of the family are now involved in the farm, in Rosie and her husband Nathan Jeffries. Rosie trained as a primary school teacher and now runs an award winning education centre on the farm along with a growing sheep flock.