about our family farm

About our family farm and glamping site – how it all came about:

The History

Phil was born at the farm when it was a small self-subsistent operation with some livestock and arable crops (his Dad William is seen feeding the chickens in the picture above in around 1945).

His Uncle Ern had bought the land to mine for gravel for road-making back in the 1930s. There is a long seam of gravel in the bedrock around these parts running for around 10 miles; a deposit from a glacier in the ice age.

Once all the gravel had been mined, huge holes were left which naturally filled with water, mainly from underground springs. These have now become the large amount of lakes you can see on the maps. Now the two large lakes are here for you to enjoy at Kingfisher Lakes.

Three generations of the Lee Family share life at the farm. We’re all involved in some way with the Potato Farming, Kingfisher Lakes or both. Even teenager Maisie helps out during busy changeovers in the school holidays; we’re a hard-working family team!

kingfisher lakes family

The Path To Potatoes

Phil and his wife Yvonne built their own home on the farm and brought up their two sons Dave & Rob here. The boys helped by working on the farm which was now a larger mixed farm with pigs, wheat and potatoes. Phil realised the business needed to become more niche and went down the route of specialising in the potatoes. They packed them into bags and sold them into the fruit market in nearby Hull; as well as to local fish & chip shops and fruit & veg shops in Hull and the nearby towns of Driffield and Beverley.

Harvesting potatoes has always been a big family effort, here’s a snapshot of lunch break during the harvest in the late 1980s. The operation is much larger now with the trailers holding 8 boxes instead of the 2 shown here!

about our family farm
glamping and farming

Busy times at the farm include planting the seed potatoes in April; irrigating them day & night throughout the Summer. Then the main harvest time starts end of September/ early October. There’s a chance you might get to try some freshly dug potatoes for your campsite evening meal!

Glamping Beginnings

In more recent history the idea of using an area of land between the two lakes not used for potato production, to diversify into Glamping was born. We wanted visitors to enjoy a previously unseen area of natural beauty, spot the Kingfishers and perhaps have some kayaking adventures of their own, like we do as a family. Building of the site started in 2016 with the first guests staying in the Summer of 2017.

Jo (married to youngest son Rob) is the site manager. She is generally the person you’ll see for checking in when you come to stay. However, the whole family is involved in some way with landscaping, maintenance and building work.

welcoming host

family run business

Phil just so happens to be an excellent carpenter too! He has built pretty much everything you see at the site that is made of wood; from the communal kitchen barn to the beds and walls inside the safari tents (with Yvonne being his trusty painter and decorator!).

Seeing our family business grow and diversify over the years has given us a great sense of pride. At the glittering ‘Remarkable East Yorkshire Tourism Awards’ in 2019, the pride and passion shone through when Kingfisher Lakes was announced as a winner!

award winning glamping site

The site has evolved to include the year-round Log Cabins so guests can experience lakeside living in all seasons, we look forward to welcoming you and hope you love the place as much as we do!