A PURBECK agricultural site owner applied to organize an unusual set of activities, including occasional small-scale music festivals.
The application, by Mr Mark Bartlett, seeks to formally recognize some of the activities already underway at Valley Farm, Middle Road, Lytchett Matravers.
He applies to Dorset Council for a legal development certificate for the manufacture and repair of horse-drawn vehicles, the sale of bric-a-brac and collectibles, the storage of sundries including vehicles and portakabins, hobby farming and music festivals.
The application claims that the activities have been carried out on the site for more than ten years and, by definition, have now become legal.
The owner of the site, Mr Bartlett, of Danecourt Road, Poole, says he has used the site for over ten years to trade in bric-a-brac and collectables and to repair carts pulled by horses, shepherd’s huts and wagons. He says the uses began, with permission, before he owned part of the site and have continued since he purchased part of the land. He had previously lived at another address up the road.
In a statement to council, he said, “My family has always been a trader, and throughout my life in Beaconfield I have actively traded what people generally call bric-abrac and collectibles. This included old wagon wheels, pots and pans, parts from old wagons, kettles, milk churns, enamel plates and all manner of architectural fixtures and fittings, such as old window frames and doors. I had a log cabin in the garden in Beaconfield where I stored small items, which provided me with a small workshop and a place to work when the weather was bad. I used the garden for the repair of traditional carts and carts.
Mr Bartlett says when the site changed hands in January 2011, he continued the activities he had already started on the farm site with permission from previous tenants and the new owner, then, in August 2013 , bought part of the site.
Throughout the period, he said he added various storage buildings, a teahouse, a music studio, and a treehouse.
He says the first festival was held in 2011 with a temporary event notice from Purbeck District Council, with festivals continuing every year since then and a permanent toilet block being added to the site.
Comments on the application, reference Dorset Council 2022/02911, can be made until June 8.
Illustration – Aerial view of the site – courtesy Mark Bartlett
