A Week on the Estate: Prickly Jon, Walking Books & Helpful Soil

Did you hear us on the radio? South Ormsby Estate featured in ‘Pirate Gold – Lincolnshire’s Biggest Treasure Hunt’ last weekend.  You’ll hear ‘Prickly Jon’ treat Claire and Rachel from BBC Radio Lincolnshire to artisan gin, beef baps and hot soup at The Old School Tea & Coffee Shop, before helping them solve the clue to their next destination.

Last week, we chatted to Coffee Shop Manager and Kickstarter, Toby Ridsdale, about getting creative with soup and flapjacks and helping to keep our tour guests and hiking community well fed. If you missed that blog, you can catch up HERE.

This week, we talk to Estate Photographer Damian Furlong about his busy run-up to Christmas; guiding tours, chatting with visitors, keeping tabs on comings and goings and recording everything through the lens.

“November and December are busy workwise,” said Damian. “Leading the Estate Tours has been really enjoyable. As we walk, I get to chat with many people who have connections with this area. I recently spoke to one chap in his eighties whose mother lived in Driby and walked to The Old School. She used to get told off for having muddy feet. Another chap refurbished barns at Manor Farm 50 years ago. There are lots of history books walking around.

“The tours are proving very popular. People are curious about the Estate and what we do. They like the idea of a working distillery and want to see how the gin is made. They love the history and they’re interested in Jon and why he’s doing what he’s doing. They get to peek behind the curtain.

“All-year round, I’m bobbing around taking photos of Estate business. Recently, I’ve caught up with new Kickstarters and some serious repairs to a ceiling in the Hall. I’ve also taken all sorts of landscape photos to capture seasonal change.

“I’m versatile and I do a few other jobs too. I’ve got a fabrication workshop and  I’ve done some repairs to gates and the poultry pens. Jon’s keen to get a 1950s irrigation pump near The Old Rectory working again for the cattle, and I’m going to investigate it with Andy Bonnet. The pump will need total refurbishment from frame to sails and we’ll need to check the water table. I like to have interesting projects to get my teeth into.

“I generally have a camera handy. Some of the photographic work is scheduled but a lot is ad hoc. I live nearby so I’m plugged in to what’s going on. I’m also a bit nosey – I think that’s why Jon asked me to do the tours.

“For me, photography is more of a lifestyle than a job. My father was a photographer and he worked for a newspaper in Louth. I grew up with it – as a baby my nursery was a darkroom. I still dabble with film and I’ve just built a darkroom at home.

“There’s a magic to developing medium format film which I love. Having said that, the home darkroom is more for my daughter, Leah, who’s doing photography at Lincoln. She’s currently into shooting fashion and is keen to go to uni. She’ll make it three generations of photography in my family.

“I’m looking forward to Christmas. We’ll have a proper family dinner and it’ll be a nice change from last year. I’m hoping to get away to warmer climes at some point in 2022. Naturally, I’ll be taking the camera.”

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