'Storm Boelo had £50k impact on our farm'

Two sisters have spoken of the "catastrophic" £50,000 impact Storm Boelo caused to their farm.

Ali and Fiona Wilshaw, who run Bates Farm in Risley, Warrington, Cheshire, were expecting to welcome about 1,000 cars for pumpkin picking on Sunday, but were instead forced to cancel their event as instead they cleared up the destruction left by heavy rain and 50mph (80km/h) winds.

The impact from the storm had been "pretty unprecedented," Ali said, adding that it had been a sleepless night.

"We were up at 05:00 GMT doing a site tour of the destruction. We've got a marquee and a fair few gazebos from the food vendors, which are absolutely just obliterated."

The sisters have been running Bates Farm since their father, Michael, died in October 2023.

Speaking to the BBC in 2024, shortly after taking over the farm, Fiona said they had a lot to get their heads round but their father, who ran the farm for 30 years before he died of cancer, helped them as much as he could even when he was poorly.

Fiona and Ali are now trying to fix some of the damage caused by the weekend's storm so they can open on Monday.

Ali said the financial impact was "catastrophic, but not in the way that you would assume - a lot of the cost is very hidden".

Adding how refunding booking fees, the loss of pumpkin sales and lost stock from fresh food vendors not being able to trade were among the hidden costs.

Ali estimated the overall financial impact of the storm was about £50,000 which included the farm's "infrastructure expenditure such as repairing the marquee, shed, and needing to use expensive wood chips to make sure the ground was fit to reopen".

She added how the farm and its events already operate "at such tight margins".

Speaking of the work to get the site re-opened, Fiona said: "We've basically just had to move everything around and think about how can this work tomorrow.

"We're in a race against time to get open again, because as soon as we can open, then we don't have to refund people's tickets tomorrow, we can get the farm moving and making money again," she added.

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