Botany Bay owner lodges plans to build holiday cottages on his Ribble Valley dairy farm

The barn to the right of the farmhouse could become holiday cottages. Pic: Armitstead Barnett.

Botany Bay owner Tim Knowles has lodged plans to convert former barns and pigsties into holiday cottages on his Chipping dairy farm.

Property magnate Mr Knowles, who spearheaded the redevelopment of the iconic Botany Bay mill at Chorley, is seeking to build three holiday lets at Black Moss Farm, Elmridge Lane, Chipping.

He bought the farm in 2022 when the family who had farmed the land for several generations decided to sell up. It is still runs as a commercial dairy farm, but Mr Knowles is seeking to convert some of the old buildings which are no longer used in the commercial running of the business.

In plans submitted to Ribble Valley Council, a large barn (pictured, above) would be converted into two holiday lets with parking, while two former pigsties across the yard from the barn would be made into a studio-style holiday let.

In the planning design and access statement in relation to the former pigsty, it says: “The proposal is to convert the existing footprint into a holiday let in a way that retains the historic fabric and brings the blockwork pigsty up to an aesthetic that complements the surrounding existing stonework farm buildings.”

According to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), 69% of farms in England had some form of diversified income, for example, holidays lets, farm shops and so forth.

Controversially for some, Defra Secretary Steve Reed recently suggested that diversification was key for farmers as they sought to cope with reducing farm support payments post-Brexit and Government-led inheritance tax reforms, which the National Farmers’ Union claims is an attack on family farming businesses.

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