The Yorkshire farm which grows barley to make whiskey and supplies peas to Bird's Eye

Simon farms at Park Farm, Tibthorpe alongside his father James and mum Merethe, on their 200-acres where their main crop is also destined for the alcoholic drinks sector, spring malting barley for single malt whisky, but his focus in just over a fortnight will switch to the livestock side of the show.

“I’ve always been to Driffield and for me, although it is a bit clichéd, it really is a great day out for all the family. Although a lot of farmers in the Wolds don’t have stock any more, we still get fantastic entries from show people all around Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

“It is keeping alive that tradition of having pride in animal husbandry, and shows the attention to detail put in. We are finding more and more is that the show has an important role to play as an educational experience for the public. I’m sure that benefits farmers, showing how we look after stock well and that our animals lead happy lives.

“We are looking to make people more aware of the various breeds of cattle, sheep, pigs and other species, about why a breed looks the way it does, and such as what a longwool breed is for, or why cattle have the size of backsides they have."

Simon started out as a steward at Driffield when his late godfather, Mark Sykes, got him involved as a teenager.

“My godfather was chief cattle steward. I like to think that I’m honouring his memory. This will be my third year as livestock secretary. It’s a bit of a change from stewarding as it’s more of an administrative job and you do a lot more work before the show, including chairing the livestock committee and sorting out the judges, the classes, the schedule, but I also get great help from others.”

Farming forms the lion’s share of Simon’s work the rest of the year but he also supplements his income with other income streams by working as a consultant for a couple of agricultural businesses.

“Dad and I both work on the farm. We work together on our mainly arable enterprise, but we also have a flock of 65 breeding ewes.

“This year we are growing just over 60 acres of winter wheat, 90-plus acres of spring barley and a bit over 30 acres of vining peas. We are just at the start of the Wolds and have good growing Wolds land. What people term ‘lad’s land’. We are a spring barley growing farm really and we do a respectable yield of 3 tonnes per acre and 4 tonnes of wheat.

“We don’t restrict ourselves to just one supplier for malting barley, so ours can go into Munton’s, to Knapton or to Fawcett’s. It’s all the Laureate malting variety that the whisky makers want. We grow our vining peas for Bird’s Eye who we’ve been with for 20-plus years.”

Simon says that Park Farm has not been as affected by the poor weather for the past year or so as some of their less fortunate farming colleagues further east.

“We’ve been very lucky as we’ve certainly not had it as bad as some have suffered down in Holderness. We got everything drilled up and we have land that drains well. We can’t grumble.

The Walgates have 10-15 acres where they run their sheep. Rather like the rest of the farm, Simon says they haven’t changed the way they farm very much, in the time he has been involved.

“We have Suffolk-cross ewes and put the Texel tup to them. Our system is to lamb in February and sell stock in June and July, usually in Malton livestock market, getting them away early. We like all of our lambing done before we need to be drilling our spring barley.

“We’ve always been of the opinion here that if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it. We’re only a small farm, and so we’ve just got to maximise what we do in each sector.”

Simon’s vineyard came about six years ago after he’d visited Yorkshire Heart vineyard in Nun Monkton for a wine taste and tour.

“On the tour there was a talk and the description of what was needed for a vineyard described a field we had. It ticked all the boxes - south facing, free draining, the right height above sea level, less than 100 metres, not too exposed, a bit of shelter.

“I put in an acre of vines, that’s just over 700, in 2018 and I’ve had three crops off them so far. I started out with six varieties and have pulled three out because we were struggling to control the mildew in them. I’ve since replanted with the three varieties that are doing well.

"So, our three are Seyval Blanc, Solaris and Phoenix. All more robust varieties that are more resilient grapes suitable for the northern European climate.

“Last year we had a brilliant yield off the Seyval Blanc in particular. They are all grapes that go into the making of white wine. I don’t make any wine myself. My grapes go to another vineyard.

Simon has a varied farming life, something that started when he decided to take an Open University degree instead of going to university.

“It was the time when university fees tripled and I decided to do the closest degree I could get to agriculture through the OU, Natural Sciences.

"I worked abroad whilst doing my degree, utilising a grant from the C Alma Baker Trust that comes through the Young Farmers movement and allowed me to work in New Zealand for 4 months, then I spent time in Denmark on some of my mum’s family’s farms, as mum and dad met through the rural dating agency that is Young Farmers, and then I toured Canada going around farms. It was a really good way of doing university, without doing university.”

On completing his degree Simon then started as a data analyst for poultry company Wot-a-Pullet, and after completing his BASIS qualification took a job with green energy company GWE Biogas in Kirkburn helping with biofertiliser sales.

“I’m into my eighth season with them,” says Simon. “I sell the digestate that comes out of their anaerobic digesters to farmers. I get the orders in, liaise with the spreading gangs, haulage and spreaders, do all the paperwork.”

Simon is now a farmer, consultant, livestock secretary and a great supporter of his partner, country music singer Lily Hope – and also looks back fondly to his Young Farmer days.

“It’s a wonderful organisation to be involved with. It brought my parents together and I was county vice chair for East Riding, as well as having had a lot of jobs with Bainton YFC. The East Riding Young Farmers will be out in force at Driffield Show.