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| David Thear | Katie Thear |
Broad Leys Publishing Limited was founded by David and Katie Thear. Katie sadly died on March 18th 2010 after a long battle with cancer.
Broad Leys are, a small company that specializes in publishing books for smallholders, homesteaders, poultry keepers and organic gardeners.
They are well known in this field because for 25 years they also published the national magazine Country Smallholding.
Originally launched as Practical Self Sufficiency in 1975, the magazine changed its name to Home Farm before becoming Country Smallholding.
They have now sold the magazine to Archant Regional Ltd..
Katie edited Country Smallholding for many years. She is also well known as an author and lecturer. Her books include:
- The Complete Book of Raising Livestock & Poultry - Pan Books.
- Free-Range Poultry - 3rd edition published by Whittet Books Ltd.
- The Smallholder's Manual - published by The Crowood Press.
- Starting with Chickens - Broad Leys Publishing Ltd
- Starting with Ducks - Broad Leys Publishing Ltd
- Starting with Geese - Broad Leys Publishing Ltd
- Incubation: A Guide to Hatching & Rearing - Broad Leys Publishing Ltd
- Keeping Quail - Broad Leys Publishing Ltd
- Cheese-making and Dairying - Broad Leys Publishing Ltd
David ran Country Smallholding Books & Videos mail order service, and attended many agricultural shows with his bookstand.
For many years David and Katie ran their own experimental smallholding and this, with their publishing experience, placed them in a unique position for producing practical titles for a rural readership.
- David Thear - Business Director
Broad Leys Publishing Ltd.
1 Tenterfields, Newport, Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 3UW. UK
Tel/Fax: 01799 541065 (International calls: (+) 1799 541065)
E-mail:
Katie Thear died on March 18th 2010 after a long battle with cancer. Her contribution to the Self Sufficiency movement and her role in giving practical help to smallholders during the last thirty years has been substantial.
She founded the magazine Practical Self Sufficiency in 1975 with her husband David and it was an immediate success, meeting the needs of a growing number of people who needed information on growing fruit and vegetables organically and raising poultry and livestock on a small scale. The magazine always had a practical focus and, as readers sent in their own contributions, PSS quickly became a forum for people to share ideas and help each other.
Katie also practised the entire range of smallholding activities developing half an acre of fruit and vegetables and over time she and her husband kept a wide variety of poultry and livestock. She constantly experimented to adapt traditional techniques for the present day, being one of the earliest users of raised beds in her vegetable garden in 1976. She also taught herself how to make best use of the produce - including making butter, yoghurt and cheeses from the milk of dairy animals.
After twenty years, Katie stood back from the editorship to concentrate on writing more books on smallholding topics. She had twenty two books published, most of which are still in print. Katie Thear was both a pioneer of the Self Sufficiency movement and a substantial contributor in providing help to smallholders for more than thirty years, throughout which time she would readily help anyone who approached her with problems. The magazine that she founded thirty five years ago continues successfully today as Country Smallholding.