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downsmail.co.uk Life of challenges and excitement


THE death of Maidstone farmer Hughie Batchelor, aged 90, pro- vided many with an opportunity to reflect on the life of a contro- versial character who, quite liter- ally, changed the landscape of the North Downs. Once a multi-millionaire farmer


and landowner, he lived for about 20 years at the impressive Thurn- ham Court before moving near Ashford and a quieter life. At the height of his career, he and his son Richard were farming 5,500 acres from Thurnham to Harrietsham, concentrating onwheat, rape, peas and oats production. At the same time, Mr Batchelor


speculated on about 2,500 acres of land in other parts of Kent, boast- ing, with his signature smile: “I never made a loss on one of these deals”. However, his arable activities at-


tracted keen interest as did his in- sistence to expand the business, no matter what the cost, which led him into brushes with environ- mentalists, local communities – and the law. In the 1980s, when he ig- nored tree preservation orders, his court appearances became a regu- lar feature of his working life and on local TV, coupledwith stiff fines – even threemonths in Pentonville Prison. At the time, he responded by


SHAUNLeavywas the county sec- retary for the National Farmers’ Union during Hughie’s “reign of terror on trees” and had the unen- viable job of trying to keep himin membership while responding to the calls of others to expel him fromthe organisation. He described his lengthy rela-


tionship with the farmer as “strained” and remembers: “I called at his farmhouse in Thurn- ham, which, ironically, was sur- rounded by trees, and his wife Grace emerged from the farm of- fice and asked if I still thought her


The late Hughie Batchelor was a controversial fig- ure in the farm- ing community, whose actions set himat odds with both environmental- ists and the law


praising the judge for delaying his sentence until after the harvest and vigorously defended his action of “clearing scrub trees


and


hedgerows to economically man- age his farmland”.


husband a pain in the rear? “Hewas in prison at the time for


pulling out trees and she told me Hughie’s brother-in-law had asked her what she was doing to get him out and her reply had been ‘absolutely nothing, he’s a pain’! She had a lot to put upwith. “His problems with pulling out


trees morphed into a war with planning officers. He was quite simply born in the wrong era.” Mr Leavy, who is now retired


and lives in Dorset, continued: “He used to tell me if it had been war-time hewould probably have


Jon puts pupils in picture


of life as roving reporter YEAR 6 pupils at Senacre Wood Primary School had amorning learning about the world of news- papers when theymet DownsMail deputy editor Jon Phipps (pictured right). Jon visited the class as part of a unit the 10 and


11-year-olds are studying on newspapers. He ex- plained about the history of the DownsMail, how stories and pages are put together and his own journalismcareer. He was then asked questions by the children,


ranging fromhis favourite stories and journalists, to his favourite colour and holiday destinations. Jon said: “Itwas great to see somuch interest in


journalists andwhatwe do. I think the children all learned something and I hope they enjoyed hear-


8 Maidstone East December 2017


ing what I had to say to them.” Year 6 teacher KirstinWright said: “Year 6 have


been learning about newspaper articles and jour- nalismas part of our literacy this term. “Jon has been a valuable part ofmaking itmore


real and he was informative and engaging. “The children have learned all about how to in-


terview sources, use shorthand and then how to structure a newspaper article ready for publishing. “We now have quite a few budding reporters!"


Maidstone East December 2017 9 However, Mr Batchelor’s critics


were many, not least those who witnessed the clearing ofwoodland and hedges that had dressed the Downs for centuries in his quest for “horizon to horizon combining”.


received a knighthood for his ac- tions. He seriously believed that itwas


his duty to do everything possible tomaximise production,while his responsibility to the countryside and conservation simply passed himby.” Mr Leavy added: “Hughie was


inclined to berateme, claiming he paid theNFU a lot ofmoney, only to be spoken to by me ‘like some sort of sergeantmajor’. “However, itwasmy job not just


to keep him a member but to re- mind him a little bit more about


And after his borrowing rose and


the business experienced financial problems with land investments and nervousness fromhis bank, the farm went


into receivership,


prompting another appearance in themedia when he tried to kidnap a receiver at gunpoint, forwhich he was given a suspended prison sen- tence. The farmer, who wore a grin as


well as a flat cloth cap, then took his leave of the area – losing the title he bought himself of Lord of the Manor of Thurnham – in the sale of his farming empire by the liquidators, heading for life near Ashfordwith hiswife Grace. In an exclusive interviewhe gave


DownsMail at the time, then aged 73, he described his retirement as “less exciting”, but onewith fewre- grets, blaming the demise of his business empire on his bank and poor timing. He said: “I think the business fortune deserted me at two important times; once when I was short of buying 300 acres at Swanley, which would have made me very sound, and again on the problems over the Grove Green deal.” He undoubtedly enjoyed the


challenge of getting the most from his land and confessed to hoping for a lotterywin to give hima fresh chance to invest in land.


Hughie needed to be reminded of his rural responsibilties


his responsibilities to the country- side. “Unfortunately, he did bring the


industry into some degree of dis- repute.” Bumping in to him at a plough-


ingmatch inmore recent years,Mr Leavy said: “He was a shadow of his former self, still wearing his cloth cap at a 45 degree angle on his head, and thiswas sad to see.” Mr Bachelor’s


funeral at


BoughtonAluph recently andwas attended by about 60 mourners. Many of those presentwere farm- ers and landowners fromthe area.


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