Tern Valley Country Club
During the war Arthur and May ran a country club for the men and officers at Tern Hill. They had to build a large water container in case of fire at the farm during the war. Arthur ingeniously designed and built it as a swimming pool which became part of the country club along with archery, tennis and other rural pursuits.
Arthur and May re-opened the country club and guest house to supplement their income and allow them to build up the Jersey herd. The club was aptly named ‘The Tern Valley Country Club.’
“He did everything there, there was archery at the side of the house, and he had his two riding horses, the swimming pool. Every spring, Arthur would turn a valve and it would drain out into the fields; taking about a week. We would go in, scrub it out, take down wheelbarrows and whitewash it all with brooms, and then the hose was turned on and it was filled up again and it was used all through the summer… Beyond that was a sandpit for the children and a crazy golf course, and in the field on the side they did clay pigeon shooting… the tennis court doubled up as a croquet lawn, Inside there was snooker and darts. There were damson trees down the one side where the cattle used to go and they used to make the most beautiful damson jam… I used to pick the watercress from the meadow and May used to make beautiful watercress soup, there was always something going on.” Mary Cowen
As well as the swimming pool they also provided lawn tennis, archery, badminton, croquet, dart-bowls, a riding school, children’s corner and a club house with darts, table tennis, bridge, a Bechstein Piano and gramophone. “They work hard now but they say they have never worked as hard as they did during those two or three years. However, their efforts were rewarded and in 1951 they were able to found the Fordhall herd of pedigree TT Jerseys.” Farm and Country 1961
