Philip was a member of the Ballard family of landowners, farmers, and engineers who have lived in the area, mainly in Colwall for hundreds of years. He graduated in Mathematics at Cambridge University and devoted himself to a life of gardening and farming varied with some mountaineering and foreign travel at a time when such interests were not so popular as they are now.
He worked first with his father at the nursery in Colwall, and developed a knowledge of plants which lasted a lifetime. But his real ambition was to farm, His mother died young, and he inherited money which enabled him to buy Old Country Farm and have drainage work done, always an expensive business. His farm workers came from Old Country hamlet across the fields on the Bosbury – Cradley road. Their names were Bill and Tom Nutt, and Mr. Oliver. The names of the farm and hamlet suggest that there may be a long-standing connection.
Mr. Oliver once confided that when he wanted to cheer himself up in wartime he cycled to the wood and listened to the nightingales.
Philip had known a girl called Helen when they were 14 and 13 and there must have been a mutual attraction, because when they met again, years later, Philip married Helen who had two sons by a previous marriage, and in the course of time, two more children were born, Philip, and Sarah. The parents shared a love of travel and took a holiday on their own every year, always to Italy.
Philip had a dairy herd of Northern Dairy Shorthorns, which was very successful and won various awards, but then they contracted brucellosis and he had no insurance, a bitter blow. Helen had poultry, and made butter and cheese, and also had a productive vegetable garden. Philip’s farming had its ups and downs. He bought Stonehouse, and three fields, and set up a sand quarry in an effort to improve finances. During wartime, they had Italian prisoners of war helping on the farm who were able to work with the two horses which were still kept. A German prisoner was less cooperative. Electricity was installed in the cowshed in 1954, but not in the house until a year later, perhaps a fairly typical farmer’s priority. Mains water was not laid on until the 60s.
One summer day, some young men working at the quarry at Southend constructed a raft and launched it. For a time all went well, but then it began to sink. One of them got off and reached the bank safely, but another lad went under and could not be pulled out. A third young man, a strong swimmer, summoned to help, dived in on the other bank to swim across and help but he too drowned, probably chilled by the cold water, a terrible tragedy which shocked the village. The police had great difficulty in recovering the bodies, and Philip who had diving experience, went to help, and was later sent a letter of commendation by the police.
Philip had made cider for years, mainly because farm workers appreciated receiving it as part of their wages, a custom dating back for many years. His interest later seems to have concentrated on perry, and while the must fermented, he amused himself writing in chalk on the brick walls of the barn quotations from books he had read on cider-making They are still there. At some stage there were no horses left on the farm to turn the ciderpress, so he used an electric motor, and bought an old motorbike and harnessed them to the mill. This too still stands in the barn., and by kind permission of the editor I am able to reproduce the article which appeared in the “Ledbury Reporter”
Philip’s solutions to problems could be a little unorthodox, but they seemed to work. He bought a Dutch barn, and when it was erected decided that it was in the wrong place, so he got the blacksmith, Jack Hales, to make four short legs with wheels on the end, and bolt them to the legs of the barn, and then towed it to the new site with his tractor
Helen’s gardening skills had now become so productive of new plants, especially hellebores that Philip encouraged her either to open a nursery, or set up a mail order business, and the latter plan prospered to such an extent that people frequently asked the way to Old Country Farm to buy plants. The magazine “Country Life” published an article about Helen’s house and gardening.
Fruit growing proved to be a successful and profitable venture, especially raspberries which were so good that they were sold at Covent Garden. Even so, there was such a surplus that raspberry jam, surely the best of all preserves was on the table so often that it became unpopular in the family.
Late in his life, Philip produced more cider than could be used, and he placed an advertisement in the “Malvern Gazette” that his cider was ready and free for collection by anyone who brought his own container. What an opportunity!
Old Country Farm
The cider press and graffiti