Mixed Use Development including a New Sheep Dairy Enterprise with Creamery, Hotel Restaurant and Bar at Historic Derbyshire Farm.

We were delighted to obtain planning and Listed Building consent in December 2018 for the redevelopment of Wakebridge Farm, Crich, to form a sheep dairy enterprise with an associated creamery, hotel, restaurant and bar.

Wakebridge Farm is a former dairy farm including a Grade II Listed late 18th Century farmhouse and attached stone barns (all in need of restoration and repair), built by Peter Nightingale on the site of a medieval manor house and chapel. The farm sits in a small valley overlooking the Derwent Valley, within the World Heritage Site Buffer Zone. On the adjacent hillside is the Grade II* Listed Crich Stand, as well as the Crich Tramway Village, a popular tourist attraction.

Our clients, who have many years’ experience in farming and veterinary practice, wished to develop on of the first sheep’s milk enterprises of its type in the country, with an on-site creamery to produce cheese and other dairy products, and viewing platforms to allow visitors to see the whole process in action.

The old farmhouse and barns will be sensitively converted into a small hotel and restaurant (selling produce from the farm), as well as a training room for veterinary and agriculture students.

This multi-faceted proposal, in a sensitive area the subject of many restrictions and designations, required careful navigation through the planning process. We took on board the views of various consultees and adjusted the plans where appropriate, culminating in what we hope will be an exciting but neighbourly development, contributing positively to the local economy and tourist offer.

We were very pleased when the Amber Valley Planning Board unanimously voted to approve the application at their December meeting.