Hill Top Farm, Bunkbarn and Cottage

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Hill Top Farm, Bunkbarn and Cottage

Hill farm in Malham, Yorkshire Dales National Park. Holiday cottage sleeps 5 and Bunkbarn sleeps 32,
(31)

Hill Top Farm is home to the fourth generation of the Heseltine family to farm in Malham. Whilst agriculture in general may have changed, the Malhamdale landscape leads us to use traditional methods of farming so that the ethos of what we do hasn’t. The farm is largely located in the Limestone uplands with most of our land being between 1200 – 1800ft. We therefore choose hardy native breeds to gra

ze this land, breeds which have evolved to cope with the weather and marginal grassland of the hills. We have acres of drystone wall, all mended and maintained by hand and run a flock of 250 Swaledale sheep, both major symbols of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We’ve farmed Belted Galloway cattle for 12 years now and as part of conservation grazing schemes their presence on our hill land has been crucial in terms of improving biodiversity and natural habitat. There are two Sites of Special Scientific Interest on our land and we’ve embraced sustainable ways of farming so that these areas can flourish and enjoy protection. We’ve had Barn Owls nesting on the farm for the last two years and have seen a marked increase in natural flora and herbs, including the restoration of a traditional hay meadow with the help of the Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust. We continue to work with the National Trust, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and RSPB to maintain and create a diverse farm habitat. Our cattle in turn lead a natural outdoor life; they graze outside all year round without the use of any grain based feeding, maturing slowly at a natural rate. It’s very important to us that they’re free to roam and exhibit natural behaviour and this in turn shows in our beef. Part of our land belongs to the National Trust Malham Tarn Estate and as tenants we were lucky enough to win one of their Fine Farm Produce Awards for our Belted Galloway beef in 2014. We’re also approved suppliers of the Pasture Fed Livestock Association, dedicated to raising animals on pasture alone. We’ve been selling our farm produce commercially for generations and now sell our raw fleece to hand spinners and weavers after shearing every summer. Our meat is available for online purchase via our Farm Produce page – please contact us if you’d like more information about either.

26/07/2024

August Bank Holiday weekend availability, 23-26 Aug! And it’s Malham Show - come join in the fun

Our Bunk Barn sleeps 32 and offers large group accommodation for multi generational families, groups of friends and anyone else who wants to enjoy the Dales

Dog Friendly
Pubs - 2 mins walk
Close to Malham Cove
Walks from the door

Please share with friends and let us know if you’re interested 🙏

09/04/2024

We’ll be chatting all things Curlew with Friends of the Dales on Sunday - do say hello if you’re in Malham

Learn more about the beautiful, endangered and have the chance to win a year's free membership to our charity through this short quiz 👇👇👇
https://bit.ly/4cxTv0S

Curlew Action Wader Quest Hill Top Farm, Bunkbarn and Cottage Curlew Recovery South Lakes

21/02/2024

Our barn in beautiful Malham is perfect for large extended family and friends groups ⭐️

Two Easter holiday weekends just become available due to cancellation - both £1400

22-25 March & 12-15 April 2024

Get them while you can - close to Malham Cove, two pubs and loads of great walks!

01/12/2023

Thursday 14 Dec - 6pm

Excited to be chatting nature and farming in the Ouseburn in Newcastle - a place very close to my heart 🖤🤍🖤. The Ouseburn Valley is a historic, industrial area with thriving wildlife which hosts a city farm. Not to mention some great pubs!

Thanks to Wild Intrigue & Ouseburn Trust for inviting us. Tickets are free, link below if you fancy it. Leigh x

www.ouseburntrust.org.uk/Event/hill-top-farm-ouseburn-wild-talks

Huge thanks to Jack Perks Wildlife Media for joining us for last night's Ouseburn Wild Talk hosted at Ouseburn Farm Charity Ltd 🐟

We all thoroughly enjoyed watching Jack's fascinating documentary on the intriguing behaviours of Britain's Hidden Fishes 🎥 and hearing from Jack's expertise in this very niche field!

It gave us a lot of food for thought, and a heap of inspiration, for the potential underwater wildlife spectacles which could be restored in the Lower Ouseburn with better care of the upstream environment.

📅 Our next Ouseburn Wild Talk is with Neil and Leigh from Hill Top Farm, Bunkbarn and Cottage, who's nature-friendly farming recently featured on David Attenborough documentary Saving Our Wild Isles 🐮 Join us on Thursday 14th December (6pm) for a Wild Intrigue discussion with this inspiring pair at Ouseburn Farm.

🎟 Find out more and book your free ticket with Ouseburn Trust at www.ouseburntrust.org.uk/Event/hill-top-farm-ouseburn-wild-talks

Ouseburn Wild Talks are part of the Wild Ouseburn project, and have been supported through the Rewilding Britain Rewilding Innovation Fund 💛

23/10/2023

19/07/2023

Minimal cows and sheep on the hills at the moment to let everything bloom and the land rest. They’ll be back up in autumn. Big thanks to for bringing naturalists .monkk to the farm for a couple of days. They went exploring, we learned a lot and excited to see what they found

27/06/2023

Are you 20-30 age group and interested in the Dales? Want experience of environmental campaigning? Friends of the Dales needs you!

Friends of the Dales campaign on many issues that affect the wildlife, communities and landscapes of the Dales. They’d like to engage with a younger perspective

They’re running a day “Creative Campaigners” including a visit to our farm

Details below, contact Ann Shadrake at Friends of the Dales for a chat if you’re interested

08/06/2023

Massive thanks and shoutout to Jenny Hulme and Alan Northrop Label Printers who helped me create a Curlew for a project with local schools this week 🙏

Was great to show the kids how the birds use the meadow to feed and nest

20/05/2023

Early purples and the faint call of a curlew at New House Farm

10/04/2023

Curlews have long heralded the start of spring in the northern uplands with their iconic haunting call but are a species in decline. A BTO British Trust for Ornithology and Yorkshire Dales National Park co-led project funded by a ‘Farming in Protected Landscapes’ grant will begin this month to track the movements of adult breeding curlew to understand their habitat use, their chicks' habitat use, and their breeding success in a range of typical Dales areas of land use. This work will help shape advice for farmers in the Dales and similar landscapes taking up new Agri-environment schemes with positive outcomes for nature. http://ow.ly/w7hi50NtYsJ

09/04/2023

8pm tonight, BBCiplayer straight after . Our little bit is about farming and nature together - making space for both.

We’re just a small part of this programme - it showcases loads of great people and groups working with wildlife

05/04/2023

screens on Sunday - we’ve waited so long to talk about it. Filmed with the amazing Silverback Films in sunny June last year. Showing how we farm for nature recovery - narrated by David Attenborough

Watch us 8pm on Sunday eve on after the final Wild Isles episode. This is a companion show to featuring people and organisations who are trying to reverse nature decline

Total privilege to film with Silverback - talent fest of sound, camera and production. Expect to see footage of cows and sheep and and interview with Neil. I was hiding behind the scenes

Commissioned by WWF National Trust RSPB

Cancellation! Easter Holidays 🐣DM or hello@hilltopmalham.co.uk to book 7-10 April 3, nights £42510-14 April, 4 nights £5...

17/03/2023

Cancellation! Easter Holidays 🐣DM or [email protected] to book

7-10 April 3, nights £425
10-14 April, 4 nights £500
7-14 April, 7 nights £800

Close to Lister Arms at Malham, Beck Hall and The Buck Inn, Malham. Lovely walk to
The Victoria Inn, Kirkby Malham, all serve great beers and food and are dog friendly

www.hilltopmalham.co.uk/cottage/

06/03/2023

Neil’s dad John sadly died 3 weeks ago. Friday was our final goodbye, celebrating his 90 years in a church & pub packed with love and support. It’s been such a period of reflection.

I am so grateful to have had him in my life; he loved his family and was loads of fun. I admired his openness and lack of pretension.

My sister in law Karen Riazi wrote this superb poem which sums him up so beautifully

21/02/2023

Excited to welcome our Curlews back, 13 birds just flew over the house towards the hills ❤️. Our land is home to lots of ground nesting birds, we welcome walkers and hope everyone can keep to paths and keep dogs on leads to give nests and chicks the best chance of success 👍

26/01/2023

Stonehouse Bittern and her gorgeous new calf. She’s a Riggit…part of the Galloway cattle fam. Originally bred by but been with us for a few years now ❤️

21/01/2023

Beautiful day to be born

Riggit Galloway Cattle Society

14/01/2023

At last, some sunshine ☀️

12/01/2023

Droving cattle through the village, couldn’t get past the Information Centre

26/12/2022

White Galloway Misty Morning with her calf and one of the Riggits up at Malham Tarn a couple of weeks ago. Taken by Stephen Garnett Photography. Hope you’re all having fun/rest/parties/peace 🕊️

17/12/2022

To pastures new.

18/10/2022

From Pikedaw to Pendle Hill

Address

Hill Top Farm
Skipton
BD234DJ

Website

http://www.hilltopmalham.co.uk/

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Videos

Early purples and the faint call of a curlew at New House Farm

To pastures new.

From Pikedaw to Pendle Hill

For Sale. Young, Red Belted Galloway bull. Naturally reared, mainly on fresh air! Very quiet, and able to be registered. Please message or call on 07703 210218. Many thanks, Neil