Maps — Bell Hill Farm in 1976 and 2006

The two maps show how Bell Hill Farm changed between 1976 and 2006.

Overall, a working farm was converted into a leisure and tourism business: the crops and animals disappeared, the land was given over to golf and housing, and every farm building survived — but with a completely new function.

In 1976 the northern half of the site was productive land, with wheat fields in the west and a tree-lined cattle pasture in the east. A row of working buildings crossed the middle of the farm: the farmhouse, a barn and the cow sheds. In the south-east lay a small pond, and a narrow country lane ran along the southern boundary, linked to the farmhouse by a footpath.

By 2006 the productive land had gone. The wheat fields had become a nine-hole golf course, while the pasture had been covered by twenty-four new houses. The farmhouse had been converted into a hotel and spa, the barn into a restaurant, and the cow sheds had been demolished to make way for a car park. The footpath had been upgraded into a proper access road, the lane itself widened — and the pond, the site''s one survivor, was now used for fishing.