07 May 2005
Robert Benson
Agricultural Correspondent
SOME people still obviously believe in fairies as the Warin family at Cottingley, near Bingley, find to their amusement.
They often get uninvited visitors knocking on the farmhouse door enquiring where they can find the elusive magical winged creatures.Agricultural Correspondent
SOME people still obviously believe in fairies as the Warin family at Cottingley, near Bingley, find to their amusement.
It is not really surprising as the village is world-renowned for the fairy photographs brought to light just before the end of the First World War.
A steady stream of visitors drift in and out of the village. And some of them end up in the farmyard at March Cote Farm, the home of George Warin and his wife, Jean, who farm in partnership with their son, Andrew.
The Cottingley Fairies hoax was perpetrated in 1917 by two young girls Elsie Wright, 15, and her cousin Frances Griffiths, 10.
In order to prove that fairies really did exist, Elsie took a picture showing Frances with a troop of sprites dancing in front of her.
Sherlock Holmes author, Arthur Conan Doyle, was fascinated by the fairies and when the first of his articles on the subject was published in the Strand Magazine in December 1920 the girls had little option but to stick to their story.
They revealed publicly, in 1983, however, that the fairies were paper cutouts, supported by hatpins. Even in this day and age the Warin family find it difficult to tell their uninvited guests that it was all a deceptive trick.
On a more serious note, George Warin has just been elected president of the Airedale Agricultural Society, organisers of Bingley Show, to be held this year on August 14 in its original setting of the town's Myrtle Park.
Born on a dairy farm at Glusburn, near Skipton, he has been a stalwart member of the show's cattle committee for over 40 years, while Jean has served even longer in the handicrafts section.
Mr Warin said: "This year's show will be the 125th and I am looking forward to my year of office.
"All the family will be involved on show day, including our grandchildren. We are hoping to beat last year's attendance figure of 15,000 and are keeping our fingers crossed for a fine day."
This year will see a new venture at the show in the form of a fell race organised by Bingley Harriers and there will be the usual attractions such as a bowls competition, steam engines, vintage cars and motorcycles and a display by the Airedale Beagles.
March Cote Farm, now a green oasis on the edge of the huge Woodside Housing Estate, has been in Mrs Warin's family for almost 100 years. The couple took over its running in 1960 and were joined by Andrew when he left school.
In 1971 the family took on the tenancy of the 90-acre Harden Grange Farm, which lies one mile away as the crow flies.
Andrew now lives here with his wife, Linda, and three daughters – Laura, Bethany and Emily.
Until 1999 milk production from a herd of 100 Friesians, along with a sheep enterprise, were the order of things but sheep now share the grazing with a suckler beef unit.
Mr Warin said: "We decided to give up milk production following the retirement of an employee who had worked for us for 32 years. The old parlour also needed replacing but as we could not expand cow numbers we felt this was not justified."
A Limousin bull had been used on the dairy herd, plus AI, to breed their own replacements and when milk production ceased the Friesian X Limousin heifers were put to a Limousin bull to set up the suckler herd which now totals 40 cross cows.
There are also nine pedigree breeding Limousins in the March Cote herd, the stock bulls being used being Brontemoor Sparrowhawk and Scordale Sterling.
The commercial cows are put back to the Limousin, as are their heifer offspring for producing replacements.
Surplus heifers are sold at the Carlisle summer breeding sales with their six-week-old calves at foot.
Mr Warin said: "We have been selling heifers with their calves at these sales since 1986."
The majority of steer calves are sold mainly at 20 months of age at the Wharfedale Farmers' Market, at Otley, where daughter, Ruth Priestley, of Denholme, is employed as office manager.
Since the disappearance of the dairy herd, ewe numbers have risen from 80 to 100. These are mainly Texel crosses based at Harden Grange which are put to the Texel tup for the production of fat lambs.
Lambing takes place in mid January and all lambs are sold through Selby market, weighing 40 kg liveweight, and regularly top the market. In addition, there are 15 pedigree Texels in the March Cote flock which are kept at the home farm for breeding purposes.
As well as sucklers and sheep, income is derived from a farmhouse holiday bed and breakfast and self-catering business managed by Jean and Andrew's wife, Linda.
Mr Warin said: "This diversification into catering for holidaymakers started as far back as 1984 and has since proved to be our lifeline as a result of the recession in farming.
"We have catered for visitors from many parts of the world – some of whom have been drawn to the village by the fairy story."
