Regenerative Farming

For centuries, our family has been farming the land, growing crops and rearing livestock at Elmore. But today, we’re doing things differently. Since 2020, we’ve been adopting regenerative farming techniques to help protect the land and produce better, healthier food at scale.

Regenerative farming is an approach to agriculture based on the principles of conservation and restoration. It aims to improve soil health, boost ecosystem services and enhance biodiversity, while rejecting synthetic inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides.

In this way, we’ve become part of a growing movement committed to sustainable farming and food production, working in harmony with the natural world.

Through our regenerative farming methods and horticultural activities, we produce our own raw ingredients for our kitchens.

On the land we’ve been growing our own wheat regeneratively, milling it ourselves to produce flour for our bakers, who in turn create delicious wholesome bread. Our freshly-baked loaves are healthy, tasty and deeply satisfying.

Across our rewilding land and dedicated cattle farming fields, we’re developing something genuinely special: an organic, pasture-fed beef operation built around the seasons. In winter, when the land needs rest, the herd moves to our farming fields. Come summer, when everything is blossoming and in full bloom, they roam freely across the rewilding land. This natural rotation produces beef that is as good for the land as it is extraordinary to eat – and you’ll find it throughout our wedding menus, in our roasts, barbecues and feasts.

Meanwhile, in our walled gardens we’re growing fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables, including mushrooms and even flowers. This homegrown produce – enhanced with the construction of our new greenhouse in 2020 – is used by our chefs to create exquisite dishes and cordials.

Finally, there are also wild, edible treasures to be found across the estate, which visitors can discover with the help of our local foraging expert.

Until recently, growing healthy grains – such as wheat and barley – at scale was thought impossible. Conventional grain production relied on monocropping and chemicals, producing food that was bad for the planet and bad for your gut.

We were inspired by Wildfarmed – the remarkable regenerative grain movement founded by our friend Andy Cato – who proved there was a better way. Their approach uses sown pastures, known as ‘herbal lays’, made from grasses, legumes and herbs to build soil health, improve drought resilience and boost biodiversity. As Wildfarmed grew, they needed their farmers to operate at a larger scale than Elmore allows, so our paths diverged – but not before we’d learned everything we needed to do it ourselves.

Today, we grow our own wheat regeneratively here on the estate, using the same principles, and mill it ourselves. The result is flour that our bakers blend with other quality flour and it is all turned into the wholesome, delicious bread you’ll find at Elmore.