A farming couple who are fighting to stay on land their family has occupied for centuries have been filming a documentary highlighting their plight. David and Karen Yates have been opposing their eviction from Earls Farm on Stitch-Mi-Lane in Harwood since receiving notice in March 2022. They have since set up a petition highlighting the issues they and other tenant farmers are facing and earlier this month welcomed a film crew to produce a documentary.
Karen Yates said: “We have been filming in Bolton , raising the plight of us, the Yates family. “For over 300 year we have been tenant farmers, with landlord Bolton Council who intend to evict us and demolish our 500-year-old home, which is steeped in wattle and daub.” The crew are working on a documentary (Image: Public) She added: “We will battle for us and other UK Tenant Farmers until Defra, and the government make the necessary changes to protect farmers and their human rights.
” The family have occupied the land for around 300 years with David Yates having taken over after the death of his father William in 1995. According to Mrs Yates, Bolton Council took over part of the land in 2007. She said that she and her husband believed they would be put on a new contract when building work was done on the new St Catherine’s Academy but heard nothing more until 2020.
In March 2022 the couple were served with an eviction order giving them just days to leave the land. They believed they would have been able to take owner.