In Their Own Words: Catherine Withers

For the first in a new series of features in which people from across Bristol tell their stories in their own words, Catherine Withers of Yew Tree Farm reflects on a week which could signal the beginning of the end for Bristol’s last remaining working farm.

A stand-off took place on Monday, April 3 at the entrance to the farm in Bedminster Down, preventing a contractor hired by the landowners from cutting through a historic hedgerow to create a new entrance into a field.

The stand-off happened just weeks after Catherine found out that she had been evicted from one-third of the land that her family has farmed for 56 years.

“I am very much the little guy”
“The land clearances are very strongly with us still. I have got no rights whatsoever it appears. I am very much the little guy with zero voice. I need to get this story out.”

“Surely after 56 years, I am meant to be given some notice?”
“Our lease is mean to be renewed every March. We have had this lease for 56 years and since then we have farmed this farm as one entire piece. Surely after 56 years, I am meant to be given some notice? It’s nuts that we are so at risk of being evicted like this and treated like this. I was led to believe via an email from our land agent that we were going to have the lease this year as usual.”

“It’s an ancient boundary”
“On Monday morning, a tractor came down the land with a hedge flail. An evil hedge flail. It was a contractor, someone I didn’t know which is unusual as I know most of the people around here and have really good relationships with them. It stopped halfway up the lane after turning round. It was a beautiful day. It’s nesting season and you could see all the birds really busy, thinking about nesting places, hanging around the hedgerows. This is a magnificent ancient hedgerow of huge significance, not only for us but for wildlife. It’s an ancient boundary as well and still is the border between Bristol and North Somerset.”

“I wasn’t given access to any paperwork because I wasn’t important enough”
“He told me that he was knocking a hole in the hedge for a 12-foot gate. He told me he had all the relevant paperwork and he was just waiting for an ecologist to turn up. I wasn’t given access to any paperwork because I wasn’t important enough. I matter not. He told me that I don’t own this land. I said that it is my driveway.”

“I can’t even begin to thank my friends and supporters enough”
“I managed to put a call out to my friend Danica. Just asking if she could help me. And I rung Mark from Bristol Tree Forum who has always proved to be an amazing source of calming me down and offering sensible advice; and my friend Amanda who is just so knowledgeable about wildlife legislation. For the first time in my life, I had people who I could call up and speak to. I can’t even begin to thank them enough.”

Police at the entrance to Yew Tree Farm during the stand-off – photo: Danica Priest

“Police said they couldn’t get involved”
“I managed to flag down a police van and say that we need some advice. The police were there just to say that it was civil. They said they couldn’t get involved. I think the police were shown the paperwork but not us.”

“It looked at that stage as if there was nothing we could do”
“We blocked the lane. I had to go to a doctor’s appointment but when I came back, I found that my son-in-law had parked his car in the lane and other people were on their way. It looked at that stage as if there was nothing we could do. That’s what the police said. The tractor was just going to cut the gateway through. We still had livestock in the field. He was going to cut the hedge through and let the livestock out and say that it was my fault.”

“It was getting a bit ugly”
“It was getting a bit ugly. The tractor driver wasn’t being particularly nice. Everyone else was being polite, just telling him to sit in the van and take his money. But he was starting to get a bit pushy.”

“We have been good tenants but that stands for nothing”
“More people arrived and the cars piled up. Even my butcher joined in! He had turned up to deliver something and ended up as part of the blockade. He said that it was bully-boy tactics. He’s a sensible guy. He deals with a lot of farmers. It was outrageous and it was devastating to be at the end of it. Just being told that I was a nothing. That my investment in the land and my family’s custodianship of this land has meant absolutely nothing. We have been good tenants. We have paid our rent on time, never caused our landlords any trouble. But that stands for absolutely nothing. We are treated like this and it’s devastating.”

“Our landlords sadly want to get someone in to destroy what we have got”
“The Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) status means that we have got an extra layer of protection. What I think they want to happen is for Labour to get into government. Labour are talking about build, build, build. They have been really influenced by volume housebuilders. Potentially the green belt could go. Our landlords sadly want to get someone in to destroy what we have got in the meadow. It has taken hundreds of years to create what we have got and someone can drive in with a tractor and destroy that in half an hour. And I’ve got to watch that from my bedroom window because the field is only ten metres away from the house and wraps around the farm.”

“It’s tragic that this can happen in the UK in 2023”
“A new insect species discovered here may be destroyed before we can even study it. You hear about this in the Amazon Basin, destroying things before you can realise that they are even important. It’s tragic that can happen in the UK in 2023. It’s barbaric.”

“Even with all Bristol’s councillors’ support, it’s not enough”
“On March 24, the whole of the farm had been designated as an SNCI because we have ground-nesting skylarks in the field and other rare species. Bishopsworth councillor Richard Eddy has been amazing about the farm and this piece of land. I am so grateful and he has done all he can to stop this happening. But it’s not enough by itself even with all the councillors’ support and the first SNCI status that has been gained in Bristol since 2010.”

“This is my home and it’s a fabulous place”
“This is my home and it’s a fabulous place. We own 20 acres but we farm 60 – but not any more since we have been evicted. We lost a third of the land overnight. We have got every single type of habitat. We farm in a very old-fashioned way and still produce an amazing quality of food.”

“We may be on the edge of Bristol but it doesn’t feel like we’re on the edge”
“Culturally, it’s so important to Bristol to have a traditional working family farm. We’re on the edge but it doesn’t feel like we’re on the edge. It took you 16 minutes to cycle here from Millennium Square. We are also now really involving the community. We open a shop on Saturday where people can come down, look at the piglets, listen to the birds around.

“I feel like I am being pushed out by big money and corporates”
“Bristol is a fabulous city and I think this farm is the most special place around. It’s very much my city but I feel like I am being pushed out by big money and corporates. The people of Bristol aren’t like that. We are an independent, free-thinking city and having a sustainable farm here, where wildlife is at the heart of everything we do, is hugely important.”

“The field has got more butterflies than Belmont Estate, Ashton Court and Tyntesfield combined”
“The field is an ancient hay meadow that has been a hay meadow for hundreds and hundreds of years. It has got over 90 species of plant in it, and has got more butterflies than Belmont Estate, Ashton Court and Tyntesfield combined in the last count. That’s just 13 acres. That is just so incredible! It’s a working farm and just goes to show how livestock and grazing animals can help and work with nature, and help nature recovery.”

“We could be the first city who can buck that trend of nature decline”
“We could be the first city who can buck that trend of nature decline. But we are constantly pushing back and battling against people who just want to earn money out of it. It’s got to be more than that.”

“Nobody wants this farm to go”
“I thought the battle was won when the council took any thought of putting the farm in, out of the local plan. We are green belt. The basis of why we have expanded our farm is that you cannot build on green belt unless it is completely exceptional circumstances. The council have accepted that. We are in a rare position where we have got the backing of every single councillor; every single councillor in the city does not want this farm to go. And as far as I know, none of the city’s residents want it to go.”

“This farm is older than most of Bristol”
“I am sure that nobody wants to see houses built where there is a thriving working farm that is doing what it has done for 500 years. That is older than most of the tourist attractions in Bristol.”

“Our landlords want to see housing between here and Ashton Vale”
“Our landlords live in London. They bought a working farm. They did not buy building land. I am 53 and have seen the landlords twice here in my lifetime. I have had no dealings with them at all. Their goal is to see housing between here and the airport and then all the way down through Ashton Vale.”

“Taylor Wimpey want to build up to 11,000 houses around here”
“The hedgerow is the boundary between Bristol and North Somerset. The land the other side of the lane is all in an option or owned by Taylor Wimpey, who want to build up to 11,000 houses around here.”

Yew Tree Farm is accessed off Bridgwater Road and bordered to the west by the South Bristol Link Road – image: Google Maps

“I would love to reunite the farm as it was before 1976 when it was one farm”
“I have offered to buy the land three times and I get ghosted. I would love to buy the land. They can’t build on it now. It’s an SNCI. I would love to reunite the farm as it was before 1976 when it was one farm. It should be back to one farm again. More than anything in the world, it would be an absolute dream come true to do that.”

“You need places like this to start the regeneration of nature”
“I want to leave the world a better place. I am terrified that the insect declines we are seeing are terminal. I am terrified that my granddaughter will have to learn how to hand-pollinate. It could be catastrophic in the next 20 to 40 years. You need places like this to start the regeneration of nature.”

“New homes should be built on brownfield sites, not on the green belt”
“I have started a brownfield-first Facebook page. Every building I see that is under-utilised or empty, I try to take a photo of if I can and put it on. Go up Jacob’s Wells Road. Those empty shops and that empty car park. Go up further up Whiteladies Road. Look at all the empty shops and units. Can we start doing something there? We don’t need as many shops as we have got. There are plans for 200 homes here. I could easily fill 200 homes built on brownfield sites.”

“We need smaller developers with much more clever thinking”
“Volume developers have had it all their own way for too long. Their profits are obscene and their customer satisfaction is low on the new builds quality. They have had too much control and too much influence. We all know that they don’t build affordable homes because they don’t want to. They mostly get out of building their affordable quota. We need smaller developers with much more clever thinking. Maybe they don’t make the billions and don’t have shareholders.”

“Our landlords could destroy an ancient hedge, pay the fine and it makes no difference to them”
“There is not enough accountability for actions. And sadly, Bristol is really poor at enforcing anything. These guys can afford it. The landlord’s company has something like £23m on their books. They could destroy an ancient hedge, pay the fine and it makes no difference to them. They could be made to repair it and you could fine the digger driver. I’m sure if the digger driver was fined, our landlords wouldn’t be reimbursing him either.”

Catherine Withers in front of the hedgerow that was saved – photo: Martin Booth

“I’m sleeping with one eye open because I don’t trust them”
“I’m completely awake all the time. Waiting to hear a tractor in the middle of the night. It’s horrible. Stomach-churning. We had someone stay the first night out in his van so they didn’t come back. That has been the tactic with a lot of these tree fellers. It’s sleeping with one eye open because you don’t trust them. If they can treat me like this, if they can evict with not one day’s notice after letting me believe that I was going to back in, they can do anything can’t they?”

“The hay meadow produces the most amazing hay”
“I have now lost a third of the farm. Usually the animals graze in there and then we take them out and it’s left to grow now as a wildflower meadow. It’s a hay meadow that produces the most amazing hay because it’s got so many nice herbs in. It means that our animals are incredibly healthy and it keeps us low-intensity. The hay is organic because we have never put any chemicals on it.”

“I am now being pushed from one solicitor to another”
“We were using that field from March 1 to graze. But I got a response via email to say that we don’t have access because they weren’t renewing our lease. Nobody was going to tell me that if I hadn’t chased up. The first I could have known was that tractor turning up. That’s when I knew it was real. Before that I had thought it must be a joke. It was not a legal notice to quit so I got advice to try to occupy the land. But I am now being pushed from one solicitor to another to another because of their conflicts of interest.”

“This could potentially destroy us completely”
“This could potentially destroy us completely. You can’t be a farm in a house can you? The other 20 acres of land that we rent off the council is about to go because they want to expand the crematorium into another SNCI. That’s muddying the waters but it means I’m being pushed on two sides and that is going to be the end of the farm. I will feel like I am being cleansed out of Bristol. Is it culturally cleansed out? Or socially? I don’t know.”

“You can’t be a farm in a house can you?” says Catherine Withers – photo: Martin Booth

“I’m going to try to do everything that I can to win but I do need help”
“Farming has gone on in this city for millennia and there’s only one of me left. It feels like everybody is conspiring against me. I’m a positive person and I don’t try to feel sorry for myself. I’m a fighter. I’m a warrior. I’m going to try to do everything that I can to win. I will not give up. This wildlife and these creatures need me. That’s what gives me the strength all of the time. I saw my first swallow yesterday. That’s a note to myself. Those poor buggers have flown all the way here from Africa with hardly any food and no break, with a lot of obstacles. If this is just another obstacle in my way, I can overcome it. But I do need help.”

“Is this a revenge eviction or is to destroy the wildlife?”
“Why are they doing this? This is an SNCI. They can’t build on it. It has been taken out of the local plan. They can’t build on it. What are they doing? The landlords are evicting someone who has paid their rent, never caused them a day’s trouble, never asked them for an expense. Why would you evict someone after 56 years who has never been a problem tenant to you? Is this a revenge eviction or is to destroy the wildlife? Neither of those reasons to me are sound or fair or just or right. You’ve got to fight that haven’t you.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Has a new insect been discovered in south Bristol?
• Countryfile broadcasts from Yew Tree Farm as its future remains uncertain
• The fight continues to save Bristol’s last working farm
• Plans revealed for hundreds of new homes on countryside site

Listen to Catherine Withers on episode 71 of the Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: