Aspects of Land | Spring/Summer 2018

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Aspects of Land Spring / Summer 2018 28
grow, but before you do
anything, you need to go back
to basics and understand what
you want from your business
and make sure you’ve got
strong foundations in place.
“You need to understand
what you’re hoping to achieve
from diversification at the
start, otherwise you may very
quickly become either a busy
fool or, even worse, create a
raging success that sacrifices
what you really want from
your business.”
The general approach at
Revesby is to avoid investing
in ventures that could prove
a constraint on the core
business – for example, by
taking land out of agricultural
production; enterprises that
can be scaled are favoured,
and investing in too much
depreciating plant is avoided.
Making sure a business is
cashflow positive as quickly as
possible is also important, as
is having an exit strategy.
“We’ve tried to find a golden
thread in terms of utilising
the assets that we’ve got
and making them fit in with
the economics of the local
community and we wouldn’t
ever pursue diversifications
that might compromise this,”
says Peter.
“To me, Revesby is more
than an asset – it is akin to a
beloved relative who needs
caring for.”
n
THE VALUE
OF LEARNING
Peter Wiggins-Davies
recently completed a Nuffield
Farming Scholarship titled
“Rural Estates – Objectives,
Governance and Growth”.
Sponsored by Savills and
The Worshipful Company of
Farmers (WCF), it allowed
him to spend time abroad
learning from estates in
Germany, Greece, USA and
Australia.
His travels, he says, helped
him realise that estates
are often characterised
by six building blocks –
custodianship, visual and
historic responsibilities,
social impact, environmental
responsibilities, a complicated
family involvement and
diversified income streams.
“To deliver on these
building blocks, you need
a strategy,” he says. “At
Revesby, we approach this
by splitting it into four areas:
succession, keeping the
family together, non-financial
objectives and financial
objectives.”
Peter is a big proponent
of lifelong learning. He
recently attended an
Advanced Agricultural
Business Management
course run by the WCF and
is also closely linked with the
University College of London,
having completed their
Growth Hacker course and
allowing them to use Revesby
as a case study.
He describes both the
Nuffield and the WCF course
as “life-changing” and says
how much they helped
him realise the importance
of objectives, strong
foundations and growth
within a complex business.
7 Forestry and firewood is
another string to Revesby’s
bow. 8 Agriculture is the
estate’s main income.
9 Keeping up to date on
farming developments makes
sure profits are maximised.
10 The estate sells venison
from its deer herd. 11 Rental
properties on the estate range
from one-bedroom cottages to
an eight-bedroom farmhouse. 7
8
9
10 11
HOW TO
DIVERSIFY