THE funeral has taken place of Anthony Bigwood, known to many as ‘Farmer Tony’, who founded Blue Anchor’s Home Farm visitor attraction and campsite.

Mr Bigwood died in May just a few weeks short of his 97th birthday.

Donations at his funeral service in Taunton Deane Crematorium were collected in aid of the community-owned public toilets on Blue Anchor sea front, which Mr Bigwood had helped to save from closure.

The funeral service was taken by friend of the family and retired clergyman the Rev Canon Ken Lindop, who lives in Blue Anchor.

Thanks were also expressed to the staff of Exmoor ward in Minehead Community Hospital who cared for Mr Bigwood for a short time before his death.

He was born in Bristol and evacuated with his brother Richard during the Second World War to a farm in Wincanton, where he began his lifelong passion for farming.

Mr Bigwood worked on farms in the Bristol area as a labourer milking cows and a farm bailiff on leaving school until he bought a 50-acre farm of his own in Bickleigh, near Tiverton, with help from his father, who was a well-known builder in the city.

The farm did not have running water or electricity and lacked an access road over the steep land leading to the farmhouse.

With six children all in their teens, the family needed to find a larger farm on which to live and in 1962, Mr Bigwood took the Crown tenancy of Underhill Farm, Staple Fitzpaine, near Taunton, where he bought pedigree Ayrshire heifers for a milking herd.

However, his first winter saw record snowfall on Boxing Day and, with milking having to be done outside, the milking lorry was unable to reach the farm for several weeks due to blocked roads.

He diversified with an agricultural company set up and also a contracting firm, while maintaining the milking herd.

Then, in 1988 the farming family moved to Binham Farm, Old Cleeve, while Mr Bigwood moved into Home Farm, Blue Anchor.

Despite approaching the age of 60 years, Mr Bigwood started a new venture at Home Farm showing his rare breed farm animals to visitors.

He was especially proud of his herd of Oxford and Sandy Black pigs, one of which won at the Royal Bath and West, Devon County, and Mid Devon shows and became a national breed champion.

The tours gave rise to a tea room where home-baked cakes and home-produced ham became favourites.

He was a keen folk dancer in the village hall and Halsey Manor and would often ‘call’ the dances, and is remembered for his daily weather forecasts on the former Quaywest community radio station, in Watchet.

Mr Bigwood was a founding member of both Taunton and Minehead Farmers’ Markets, and his Home Farm team won prizes at the first three Exmoor Food Festivals.

In 2004, Mr Bigwood was awarded ‘business person of the year’ by the Free Press.

Today, the small campsite in Blue Anchor and a well-known car boot sale continue to be run by his family.