A Legacy Of Turf Growing And Development
THE ORIGINS, HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF TURFLAND
Turfland was founded by Chris and Janet Watmore. Although the day to day business is now in the hands of their daughter and son in law, Angela and David Mackay, Chris and Janet are still very much involved.
It all began in 1958 when Chris, then a cowman, married Janet, who was then a nurse. They bought their first house together in 1962 and Chris went to work for F L White, a turf producer. Chris quickly became a key person at F L Whites and also became aware of the growth potential of the turf market.
The result was that Chris, along with Bill Wright, a colleague, left F L Whites in 1965 and along with Janet set up Sussex Turf Supplies starting with only an 8 acre field. In those early, heady days of establishing their own business Chris and Janet couldn't help wondering about their first good omen. The very first day that they started cutting turf in their new business their first customer was no other than a Mr Seed!
The work was a lot harder than it is today as they had to hand race every yard of turf and the Ryan turf cutters in those days were very complicated and difficult to use. They had to fold and stack every piece of turf by hand. Getting the turf from the field to the lorry was no easier. The 8 acre field was in a small valley at the end of a long track. They used an old Fordson Major T.V.O tractor and made a buckboard out of old timbers. The turf was stacked onto this and had to be reversed out uphill to where the lorry was parked. The lorry was a 1960 BMC. All the time there were orders the work never stopped. Time off was taken when bad weather slowed or stopped production.
Right from the start, Chris and Janet realised the importance of producing a better product than their competitiors which, with customer service, was one of the factors which became key to their success and which they still consider of prime importance today. Subsequently they bought out Bill Wright, expanded the business and started a series of firsts in the UK turf industry. They became:-
1. THE FIRST COMPANY TO WEED TREAT TURF - in those days their competitiors did not weed treat turf. The best of them had a precarious grading system on the field, i.e. a large dense area of broad leaved weeds may be considered suitable for council verges or a cheap back garden. The price was 45/- for 100 3 foot x 1 foot turrves. Another area that had perhaps been closer grazed by sheep would be priced at 50/- per 100 3 foot x 1 foot turves. For the customer this was very much a 'pot luck' situation.
2. THE FIRST TO INTRODUCE A PROPER MOWING PROGRAMME - Most turf at that time was not gang mowed regularly but grazed by sheep. For closer cropped turf, a few more sheep were added.
3. THE FIRST TO USE FERTILISERS - Because Sussex Turf Suppliers did not use sheep to control growth of grass and these also added fertiliser in the form of manure, they became the first to operate a balanced fertiliser application programme. This produced a more consistent grass quality and stronger roots. It also eliminated the terrible damage caused by sheep urine.
The business expanded with the acquisition of Amberstone, a 7 acre field and coal yard, initially to accommodate the lorries and then to develop into a turf depot. In 1969 the business acquired 100 acres of accommodation land at Lapham Drove which was used for harvesting pasture turf and was the re-sown but due to access problems this land was sold for a healthy profit in 1971.
The proceeds were used to develop Amberstone, build a house and purchase some new lorries and by 1974 Sussex Turf Supplies was the leading UK producer of turf. In 1974 another 100 acres of land was purchased at Middlebridge and with the aid of a River Authority Grant the land was drained and it was here that the business FIRST BEGAN TO GROW TURF FROM SEED, although the volume users were still being supplied with good quality pasture turf.
In 1976 another milestone in the company's history was reached. Chris and Janet received a telephone call from a local farmer who had a 20 acre pasture field for harvesting, but it had to be harvested in only a few weeks. They knew this would be impossible to do using traditional methods but Chris recalled hearing about a new machine that could harvest up to 1500 square yards in an hour. On tracing the UK distributor, Chris identified the machine as an A3 Brouwer Harvester, but found the distributor to be so unhelpful and off-putting that Chris telephoned Canada and arranged to fly over to meet Jerry Brouwer (he called from the airport to let Janet know he was going)! With a little "Artful" negotiating Chris bought and shipped over his first Brouwer Harvester (and the first one in the UK) and completed the harvesting job in time.
A few months later Jerry Brouwer invited Chris back over to Canada where he awarded Sussex Turf Suppliers the sole UK Brouwer Distributorship and they becam the FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN SOD PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION (ASPA) NOW KNOW AS THE TPI (TURF PRODUCERS INTERNATIONAL). That year six Brouwer harvesters were sold and the UNITED TURF PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION was formed.
In 1979 the business made a £500,000 investment in purchasing Redhouse Farm, a 200 acre site at Preston Brook, Cheshire. The business was renamed Turfland. Both the Warrington site and Sussex sites were run together until 1983 when Peter Baxter bought Turfland in Sussex on the agreement that he would retain use of the Turfland name and receive management assistance in return for an annual fee. This lasted for six years until Peter Baxter went completely independent and changed the name to Grasslands.
Throughout the 80's and early 90's, Turfland continued to invest and develop its products and services. The nurseries in Cheshire produced excellent quality turf but because if was a heavier Cheshire loam it became very wet in the winter and bone dry in the summer. In 1993 Turfland purchased its first block of grade 1 land at Scarisbrick in Lancashire. Only 2.5% of UK soils achieve grade 1 classification, perfect for producing top quality turf, free draining with virtually unlimited irrigation meant that Turfland could produce healthy turf 12 months of the year. Turfland continued to purchase further blocks of land around Southport as and when they became available (which wasn't often as this precious land tends to stay in the same hands for generations). Turfland now own over 1000 acres of grade 1 land around Southport. The head office relocated to Southport in 1999. 
Since this time the company is still thriving. Turfland is a market leader in turf production and management. Our customer list reads like a who's who of turf users, including St Andrew's Golf Course, The Duke of Westminsters Estate, The Belfry Golf Course, 10 Downing Street, The Natural History Museum to name but a few. Turfland has also made countless TV appearances, including 'Challenge Anneka' (twice), 'With a Little Help From My Friends' (twice), Budweiser's Premiership Ad campaign, numerous garden makeover shows and many BBC education programmes. Janet Watmore achieved her own unique acclaim when she was awarded the national 'Women into Business Award' in 1995.
