History

The farm was established by Anthony’s grandfather at the beginning of the last century.

 

Prior to that it was owned by the Hind family, who also owned Swithland slate quarry, so there are numerous Swithland slate features on the place – roofs, gate and fence posts, troughs, coping stones.

 

Two more unusual items are a coffin and the obelisk in  front of the house, which is the largest single piece of Swithland slate ever quarried.

 

It was farmed very traditionally until my grandmother’s death in 1967, and then the farm was modernised by my sister and her husband – new buildings, larger fields, and drainage under the fields.

 

Sandra and Anthony moved here in 1982, bringing dairy cows for milk production, sold to Kirby & West in Leicester.

 

Pressure on the dairy industry resulted in increases in the size of the unit, culminating in the building in 1998 of a state of the art cubicle house for 200 cows, with automatic removal of the manure.

 

Continued pressures with low milk prices resulted in personal health problems in 2003, and since then the unit has been let out to a tenant.

Whetstone Pastures Farm,

Whetstone.

Leicestershire.

LE8 6LX

Tel.  0116 277 4627

E-mail anthonyherbert@btconnect.com

or        sandraherbert@hotmail.co.uk

 

Swithland Slate

Coffin

The Obelisk