About Us
Our Family And Other Animals
Maggie Johnson
Maggie used to work in TV before starting the B&B in 1993. Loves living at Mallard Grange, enjoys looking after guests, cooking, gardening, getting together with friends, riding Doris her horse, and bee keeping with son James.
A small team of dedicated lovely local ladies help Maggie run the B&B. They share her passion for maintaining high standards of cleanliness and great attention to detail.
The B&B Team
The Farm
Charles and James run the farm. There are over 130 cows and calves and a flock of sheep. Wheat, barley, oil seed rape and beans are grown.
To find out more about the farm go to
mallard_farm
The Johnson family have lived at Mallard Grange since 1933. Today it is the home of Charles and Maggie Johnson and two sons, James and William. Mallard Grange is also a working farm and James works with his Dad on the farm and Will has a career in London. Maggie and James keep bees; free range hens roam and the farm cats prowl the farm yard. The family have two well behaved dogs and Maggie's horse Doris will be your best friend for a polo!
On the farm there's around 200 cows and calves, a flock of sheep, wheat, barley, beans and oil seed rape crops are grown. Charles and James farm in a nature friendly farming way; they also grows nectar mix and wildflower borders for the wild birds and bees. We share this lovely spot with an abundance of wildlife; wild geese and ducks visit the pond, occasionally herons too; red kites and kestrels soar overhead and swallows are regular visitors in Spring. Looking out across the fields, curlews, pheasants, partridges, rabbits and hares are common sights - glimpsing a deer a rare treat.
At night gaze at the myriad of stars in the dark sky and spot the Space Station on it's nightly journey around the earth.
Please remember that Mallard Grange is a working farm; cows will moo and tractors come and go - sounds of the countryside. We care deeply about the welfare of our farm animals, the environment and the land we live on and farm for the benefit of us all.
A Brief History Of Mallard Grange
Mallard Grange is a Grade II Listed House dating from 1355. As you might expect from a house over 700 years old it has a lot of character, quirky charm and the odd creak and groan!
We don't know much about the people who lived here before 1600, but in 1640 it was in the possession of a John Smith, who was a Royalist in the Civil War. In 1717 it passed to Abraham Smith, a spendthrift who squandered his inheritance and was the last of the Smith family to live at Mallard Grange. He died in 1739 in York debtors prison during the time the famous highwayman, Dick Turpin, was imprisoned there. In 1741 Mallard Grange was sold to William Aislabie, the flamboyant owner of Fountains Abbey who created the magnificent formal gardens at Studley Royal next to he Abbey. Fountains Abbey became a World Heritage Site in 1986 and now belongs to the National Trust.
