Our Farm Manager Swailey
Our Farm Manager Swailey has had an impressive career growing a range of fruit, including, apples, pears, plums, and strawberries to name a few. He has dedicated his career to fruit farming since leaving school, starting his journey on the family farm owned by his grandfather.
In a similar way to the inception story of Fourayes, Swailey’s grandfather’s farm was passed down the generations, and is still part of the family, being used as a haven for horses.
Swailey’s knowledge of the land, understanding of the fruit and expertise in running a farm has come from many years of managing land for other farmers. Long before joining Fourayes, Swailey perfected his craft, mastering the intricacies of planting, working in harmony with local wildlife and learning the needs of each tree; just call him the fruit whisperer!
Swailey’s Farm Reports
Swailey’s Farm Reports: Winter 2022
The last apples have been picked but the apple growing process is never over. As winter approaches at Fourayes Farm and the apple harvest has been picked, you might think that there is little left to do until spring. [...]
New luxury accommodation at Fourayes Farm
The hot news is that we’re putting up hotels all over Fourayes Farm. Most of my posts focus on events in our factory, so it’s a welcome change to focus this time on the Farm. [...]
Job Vacancies: Fruit Pickers Late Aug – October 22, £15 per bin
Job Title: Bramley Apple Fruit Pickers Every year we look for reliable, fit and hard-working people to join the fruit picking team to bring in the Bramley Apple Harvest, from late August to October. Reporting to: The Farm Manager, [...]
Orchard Report February 2020
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: February 2020 At the time of writing we are just edging into February in what has, for the most part, been a mostly mild but wet winter. Our orchards have been [...]
Orchard Report Autumn 2019
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Autumn 2019 At the time of writing, we have just finished the Bramley harvest which started very dry, sometimes very hot and dusty, until 24th September when the heavens opened. By the end of the [...]
Orchard Report Summer 2019
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Summer 2019 At the time of writing we are just edging out of quite a dry May after a cold April in which our bees struggled to find any warm days [...]
Orchard Report Autumn 2018
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Autumn 2018 At the time of writing we are nearly half way through the first pick of the Bramley. The end of spring brought us a hail storm which [...]
Orchard Report Spring 2018
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Spring 2018 We are emerging from a very wet and cold spring: we had 42mm of rain over the Easter weekend alone. The orchards are a sea of mud making spraying [...]
Orchard Report Winter 2017
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Winter 2017 At the time of writing we have just finished our first pick of the Bramley. It has so far been a fairly dry harvest: we lost two [...]
Orchard Report Spring 2017
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Spring 2017 We are emerging from an early spring which has been colder than normal. The bees have struggled to find small windows of warm weather to pollinate the Bramley. [...]
Orchard Report Autumn 2016
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Autumn 2016 We are about a third of the way though our second pick of the Bramley. For the most part it has been a dry summer with almost no rain [...]
Orchard Report Spring 2016
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Spring 2016 We are heading into a late spring with another cold weekend ahead to slow things down again. Our own winter was very wet, and March and early [...]
Orchard Report Autumn 2015
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Autumn 2015 We are about half way through the first pick of the Bramley crop. It now seems hard to believe that we have had, for the most part, [...]
Orchard Report Winter 2014
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Winter 2014 Our harvest is almost complete, we are on the last full day of the Bramley pick and have one more pick of the Gala to finish, with just a [...]
Orchard Report Spring 2014
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Spring 2014 We are just edging our way out of Spring. Our blossom has gone and the bees have returned home to Warwickshire after having some lovely sunshine to work in. [...]