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Amanda Burden
By Ginny Farrell I
f Amanda Burden was a stick of rock, then running through her core would be love for her family, her work at Luscombe Maye, gin, rugby, horse racing and entertaining.
“If you ask anyone who knows me, what are the things
that reflect Amanda’s personality those are the things they would probably say”, she laughs as we sit chatting at her huge kitchen table at Bickleigh Farm near Halwell, which she owns with her husband Brian. Winding back the clock, Amanda tells me she was
born to a farming family in Northamptonshire and came to Devon aged 18 to study for a degree in agriculture and countryside management at the former Seale Hayne College. One thing led to another, and Amanda is still here 30
years later – and she wouldn’t have it any other way. “As soon as I moved down here, I loved it from day
one. I knew that South Devon was going to be my home for a very long time.” Before she had even left college, Amanda
was offered a job with Luscombe Maye – impressing the boss while working as a telephone bidder for the company’s online cattle sales business during her final year’s study. “During the last couple of weeks of
me a quad bike, I can get around the 500 acres of fields quicker and it will reduce the cost. “He said there would be a quad bike there and then asked if I knew how to use it - “of course I do, I’m a farmer’s daughter!” insisted Amanda. “But it was different to the one my parents had, and I
couldn’t start it. Luckily there was a tractor going in the next building, so I went around and asked Brian for help. “That was the start of our chatting away and our
relationship.” The local farmer is now their neighbour and one of their closest friends and was Brian’s best man! For the first 10 years with Luscombe Maye, Amanda
was based in the South Brent office. She passed a series of Agricultural Valuers’ exams and
was then invited to become an associate and then a fully equity partner, moving across to Totnes to head up the office there. By this time, she and Brian were married
“One of the things I’m most proud of is succession planning – when you’ve got the older generation farmer and the
college, we were getting a bit lairy because we were graduating and I had been a bit mouthy on this particular day and the auctioneer asked to see me in his office. “I thought I was going to get a telling off, but instead he said his assistant had just handed in his notice and that as I had always wanted to be an auctioneer and land agent, would I like to apply for the job? “So, I did and of course got it and started with
Luscombe Maye in 1995.” It was through her job that Amanda met her future husband. “A local farmer asked if I would do a schedule of
condition for the farm he was renting to Brian. He asked how much it was going to cost and I said if you lend
younger generation who have big ideas which the farmer isn’t sure about.”
and Amanda was pregnant with their daughter Scarlet. “I was so lucky, even though I was on
maternity leave my boss offered me to become a partner, to buy into the business. “So, when people say women can’t do this,
that and the other – in the rural industry that I have experienced, if you can do your job, it doesn’t matter whether you are male or female, you can just get on with it.” Today she is also mother to Joss, 12, and
heads up the agriculture and rural planning department. “I love my job. We do a lot of work around converting
agricultural buildings into dwellings, we do all sorts of diversification work, and help a lot of farm shops and cafes through the planning process. “One of the things I’m most proud of is succession planning – when you’ve got the older generation farmer and the younger generation who have big ideas which the farmer isn’t sure about. “I can go in and say “well your son or daughter has a point, you could do it this way round,” therefore helping
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