Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The latest phase of office development at Wicklesham is nearing completion.

Five companies are already thriving in the first phases of the tranquil office space - Weekend Travel Ltd, Heath Cotton Associates, Via Technologies (Europe) Ltd, The MotionPosters Co and Peroda.

It was 1921 when the 510 acre farm and buildings were bought for around £35,000. Captain Tom Allen-Stevens set about building a prize herd of Dairy Shorthorn cattle. Each bull he could sell for £500, and the eager local farmers in a thriving dairy area would buy his calves for £150 a piece.

Three quarters of a century later, the last cows were sold from Wicklesham Farm.

They were transported outside an area that had now all but lost its dairy industry and sold to a market heavily depressed by BSE. Three cows with their calves fetched a total of £380. The family realised that the real assets of the farm were now its buildings.

Sarah Allen-Stevens now runs the company set up to manage the offices in the converted farm buildings as Wicklesham Commercial properties bids to ‘milk’ new opportunities in diversification.