I met Gill at agricultural colleague and we moved to New Zealand together to work- and it was there that we decided to invest in a dairy business back home.

We started off on a Cheshire County farm with just 32 cows and today we run two farms that are home to 360 milking cows.

The business has always been about investing in a future for Ellie and Matthew, our young children. Encouraging more young people into farming will keep British dairy farming alive and vibrant, and it's a passion of ours. Each year we take on a student from a local college, and every time it's so rewarding to see their confidence and skills grow.

We also employ two full-time herdsmen, and milking staff to help out on weekends, so Gill and I can spend more time with the kids. Delegating some responsibility was hard at first, but the team we have around us is great.

For us, it's so important to have everybody contributing positively towards the success of the farm, and I am always open to their views on anything from new technology to where the cows should graze. Gill, who's a chartered accountant, has the finances sorted!

At the moment we are concentrating on bringing up our calves, and we're looking to expand cow numbers to 450. There's a lot to do, but we're optimistic.

Twenty years ago we could hardly imagine running our own business, and now we've just celebrated winning the Dairy Farmer of the Future Award. That was a brilliant moment which spurred us on to continue focusing on the foundations to secure a bright future for our family farm.