Aroundtown MEETS
Aroundtown meets
The Nicholson Family of Cannon Hall Farm
He’s spent over 60 years of his life rearing livestock, lugging hay bales around and going beyond the call of duty to support his family, but Cannon Hall Farm’s flat cap wearing patriarch, Roger Nicholson, isn’t ready to be put out to pasture anytime soon.
When he unexpectedly took over the reins of the family business at just 16, he knew he’d be doing it ‘till the cows came home. But he’d probably have told you to pull the udder one if you’d have said he and his family would become television favourites six decades later. If you’ve visited the farm, watched their lockdown livestreams on social media, or tuned in to Channel 5’s On the Farm programmes, you’ll appreciate the dedication the Nicholsons have to their craft. Farming isn’t a nine-to-five job and the team are up with the lark every morning 365 days a year.
But the Nicholson family come from strong stock, with true Yorkshire pride, grit and determination entwined within every essence of their DNA. Qualities that have since been passed down to Roger’s own sons, Richard, Robert and David. When the horizon looks bleak and the
landscape barren, the Nicholsons continue to plough on through with hope of a better tomorrow. And through sheer fortitude and graft, the family have spent the last 30 years cultivating one of the UK’s finest visitor attractions. As we say in Yorkshire, ‘where there’s muck there’s brass’ and opening the gates to the paying public has proved prosperous. This daring move turned the family’s fortunes around and the family have since reaped the rewards of their labour with multi-million-pound redevelopments, awards in abundance, and becoming stars of the small screen.
But in spite of its success, the farm has never lost its heart and soul and pays homage to its roots throughout. The old beams the Nicholson kids used to tie Tarzan swing ropes on now prop up the farm shop. The new restaurants and eateries are named after the family’s beloved
pets from years gone by. And Roger, his children and grandchildren play their respective parts in keeping the business afloat.
The idea to turn the family farm into a visitor attraction was Roger’s who, due to poor market values and substantial financial losses, had reached a fork in the road. ‘Just’ farming wasn’t working. It was time to either sell up and cut his losses or sow his seeds in other avenues. Roger didn’t want the dream to end. Farming was all he’d ever known and he wasn’t about to end his family’s 300 year farming history at the drop of his flat cap. Elders before him had made sacrifices and now it was his time to take the bull by the horns. His father, Charlie, had bought the site at Cawthorne in the late ‘50s after being forced out of their previous farm at Bank End in Worsbrough. The farm had belonged to the Nicholson family since 1650 but the council sought a compulsory purchase order to make way for a new housing development.
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aroundtownmagazine.co.uk Roger
Roger
They were set to lose their home, land and livelihood to the tune of £60 an acre. But Charlie was never one to be defeated and saw this as a
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