The Saddlery

The Story of Manor Farm

For centuries the village of Willoughby was owned by Magdelan College, Oxford, which included Manor Farm. In 1933 the Heckford family became tenants and subsequently purchased the farm in 1953, when the college sold all its property and land within the village.

The Farm House, which is Georgian in style, was built in stages over a period of 50 years during the late 18th century. The farm buildings were built in various stages over the same period.

The Saddlery was originally used as the ‘tack rooms’ for all the working horses on the farm.

Manor Farm Today

The farm land extends to 320 acres. Originally it was all pasture land for the grazing of sheep and cattle. Since the mid-1980s some of the land has been cultivated, growing wheat, oil seed rape and oats.
The main enterprises now are still cattle and sheep, running 150 beef cattle and lambing 600 ewes.

As the years passed the farm buildings became unsuitable for modern farming practices and new purpose-built buildings were constructed on a greenfield site. Between 1997-1999 the original buildings were converted into 8 dwellings, including The Saddlery. The others are all privately owned.

The Saddlery accommodation was completed in April 2001.