Philip and Nelly Trevelyan have owned Hill Top Farm for 50 years, launching Yorkshire Organic Millers 20 years ago to grow organic wheat and rye from the North Yorkshire site. In 2023 Rob and Megan Archer took over management of Yorkshire Organic Millers and Hilltop Farm. Rob gives us some insight to life on the farm creating their sustainable high quality flour.
Milling was new to us, but through great teaching from Philip and Nelly we learnt fast about the whole milling process – maintaining the mills and managing the grains and grists to produce the best quality flour consistently. Keeping the mill running has been an eye opener into the amount there is to do behind the scenes, from organising grain with farmers to making sure the orders arrive safely on time. This – alongside running the 120 acre farm with organic sheep, chicks and beef cattle – has been a huge honour and very rewarding.
Yorkshire Organic Millers is currently producing 350 tonnes of flour a year, which can feed 18,000 people. The current setup is four stone ground mills with the hardest granite stones which were designed and imported from a French mill producer. Three of the mills run our 85% bread flour daily, and the other mill is swapped between rye and wholemeal as needed.
We’re currently looking into the possibilities of growing the brand. Since taking over we’ve made minor improvements to the mills, enabling us to produce 20% more flour without losing quality. We’ve also been looking at various other flour types which one day we’d be keen to produce – having already started producing plain flour which has been a hit with some artisan bakers and bakers from homes. One of my future goals is to set up a micro bakery on the farm to supply locals with fresh bread daily.
Our main priority is to ensure our flour is the best quality we can supply and to keep the local and stone ground heritage that Yorkshire Organic Millers is known for. We’re keen to keep our flour sustainable, so from grower to consumer everyone is able to afford the produce. We have a good relationship with the local farmers who supply us with grain, ensuring they receive the best possible price and future crops can be planted: Tim Sellers from Carr House Farm; Alex Fraser from Fraser Farms, who is a knowledgeable young organic farmer; Stringers and Sons at Bishop Wilton; Neil Wilson from Woodlands Farm, whose land produces consistent quality grain with high protein, which is key to our bead flour production. The varieties of grain we currently mill are Mulika, Nelson, Paragon and Oland, along with Rye.
We supply flour to many bakers across Yorkshire and the UK – from some of the best artisan bakers to micro bakeries who all produce amazing breads, pastries, pastas, pizzas and more. Phil at Haxby Bakehouse has been a loyal customer and highly skilled baker from the day Yorkshire Organic Millers were born, winning international awards for his Yorkshire mill sourdough. We also supply Wild Hearth Bakery at Crieff who has won national awards for his bread. Other great local bakeries we supply are Bluebirds Bakery in York and Malton, The Handmade Bakery in Slaithwaite, and Stark Farm, who use traditional wood fuelled ovens. These are just a handful of the amazing places using our flour to make delicious bakes.
Images – Tessa Bunney
