BUCKHOLT

Michael Matthews was born and raised on a farm on the Wiltshire / Dorset border in Swallowcliffe, west of Salisbury. The second son of a farmer, he was always passionate about the countryside, farming and shooting. In 1991 he took over a family farm that had previously been tenanted in the Candover Valley just outside Alresford. He was the first member of the Matthews family to live in Hampshire. He ran a mixed farm with a large dairy although it was mainly an arable farm and for two years he was the UK's largest grower of opium poppies, used in the production of morphine. He also started a successful shoot, predominantly partridges, which is now one of the largest partridge shoots in Hampshire. In 1994 Michael married Sarah Selkirk and they have three children. In 2007 the farm in the Candover Valley was sold and the Matthews moved to Buckholt where they initially bought the farm. Two years later bought Buckholt House, thus putting the estate back together...

Also known as: Buckholt.co.uk

Primary location: United Kingdom