SEVENTY years ago a 20 year-old from Kent cycled to Devon to begin his life as a farmer near Yeoford.

Today four generations of the family, ranging from 90 years of age down to two, live at the farm where Martin Comont celebrated his 90th birthday.

Martin’s birthday was on July 20, a big party was to have been held at Yeoford Community Hall, a band booked, but all this had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions, although many joined in the celebrations at the farm through Zoom.

Martin’s father was a Civil Servant with what was then the Ministry of Agriculture. They were evacuated from Kent to North Wales during World War Two.

Very much an outdoors person, after they returned to Kent, Martin went to work on a big estate there before his father made the move to Devon. 

He had bought South Coombe between Yeoford and Coleford in 1950 because he was promoted to being in charge of the Devon Division of the Min of Ag, the choice of farm being decided by what could be afforded.

Martin cycled down from Kent a few days early and stayed at the Mare and Foal in Yeoford so that he could see how the then owners were running the farm while the rest of the family went by road to South Coombe.

Martin met farmer’s daughter and former Bicton College student Olive, they married in 1952 and had four children. Olive’s family had moved to Devon from Essex. 

Over time South Coombe was modernised.  Martin was quite innovative and was making silage while other farmers were still making hay, they had a commercial egg laying enterprise and some sheep. 

But there was still a horse working at South Coombe as well as a Standard Fordson tractor.

There was no mains electricity, water was from the well, turning a handle to bring the water up.  Electricity arrived not many years after Martin and family moved in and they put in a petrol pump to pump the water to the fields. 

Apart from the seasons, one of the biggest changes Martin has seen is probably that farmers used to go to help each other, just turning up to help.  “There was a huge amount of that,” said Martin’s son Glyn, one of the families at South Coombe.  

“Someone would come over without saying to help bring in the hay.  Things have changed so much,” he added.  “That has changed quite dramatically with there now being specific contractors.”

Glyn, who now farms South Coombe, remembered his father telling about the time he and Olive answered an advert to give a family a holiday. 

“It must have been in the early 1950s when they saw an advert, probably in the ‘Farmers’ Weekly’ about a lady in the East End of London who could not afford a holiday that year and she thought it would be a good idea to have a holiday on a farm and do some work for their keep. 

“Mother and father answered this ad and the family came down with two sons.  There was no room in the house so they cleaned an empty chicken shed out for them to sleep in and they did some work around the farm and they had a great time. Within two weeks of them leaving, the chicken shed was once again full of chickens,” he said.

Martin has always played a part in the community, playing football for Yeoford when he was younger and being very active with the NFU where he would regale many anecdotes to anyone who would like to listen.

Olive died 10 years ago, just short of her 80th birthday. Martin has nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren.