Farm machinery noise!

[SameKeyThough]

Currently staying on a gorgeous campsite in Dorset. Only 3 pitches for tents, no caravans/hook ups, and 4 unfurnished bell tents. We've stayed before several years ago. It's a beautiful setting and the owners have an organic farm next door. So there is a lot of (entirely acceptable) sounds of nature - geese, chickens, cows etc. Occasional tractors. It's very much advertised as a haven of peace and tranquility - no music, quiet activity after 8.30pm, no noise after 11. Eco and organic etc etc. Lots of rules about this.
BUT. From 6.30am this morning LOUD farm machinery in neighbouring field. Continuous droning noise for 2 hours now, sort of busy city road level. London bin-men loud. Even with ear plugs it's loud. I accept that camping does not equate to quiet. I've stayed at a few campsites here and in France and not had anything like this. But can I say anything to the owners without sounding like an idiot townie? It's not their field so I know not their responsibility. But they must know and I feel a bit, I don't know, misled? cheated? I'm tired and cross so may be over reacting! I'm thinking I'm more concerned for teen DS and his friend in the other tent who have been completely quiet and respectful and loved chilling out in nature but now have this!!! I don't know if I can face it for 2 more nights.. Talk me down!

It’s harvest and baling time, why don’t you go and ask the farmers to be more quiet and respectful I’m sure they won’t mind you complaining and sounding like an idiot townie.

It’s harvest time.

But then the OP would have to endure all that dreadful noisy birdsong.

We went to 'Forest Glade' ... only to discover some amazing machines auto-cutting trees down to turn the glade into a major clearing.
It was a bit noisy but not as noisy as the gliders going overhead as we walked through the wood. Lovely site. A different sort of noise to the normal home noises of cars and sirens though.

True! 🤣

perhaps staying at home would be better

I don’t see why the farm couldn’t let the campsite know. It would be an easy and considerate thing to do that costs them nothing and builds up goodwill. I’m not sure why you think it’s unreasonable. An ambulance passing takes seconds, so not comparable in the slightest. Any other type of business making noise at anti social hours (eg railway works, construction) would be expected to let people know but for some reason on MN farmers are incapable of basic community relations.

So the farmer just texts the campsite owner the day before and they let people know. A little warning is better than none. Managing people’s expectations is half of running a business.

you're not an idiot for not knowing, if you don’t live in the countryside (and even then lots don’t know the details) and don’t work in agriculture it’s not obvious that basically when the weather is right you go from dawn until dusk and it starts when the best conditions happen not on a specific date
Ive spent most of my life in the highlands and a small island on crofts. When I went to live in a city for a couple of years, in my early 20s there was lots I didn’t know about city living, it is what it is, you can’t know everything.
it’s not ideal that they’ve advertised it as a quiet place though

Ah OP it’s annoying but it is the country. I commented yesterday on a post about this as a worry for me in my airbnb that I would get bad reviews for the occasional farming noise, or slurry spreading. Someone said I was grabby and should close my airbnb as this is not acceptable to rent out. (There is activity in the field possibly 8 days a year for about a hour at a time). I didn’t even respond to the stupid comment as that really would mean every rural campsite/ holiday let would have to close as all fields are worked at some point. Maybe this campsite needs to close down too.

This. The windows for planting, harvesting, fertilising or ploughing the ground are tiny. They need to make the most of every second when the conditions are right.

Do you know what OP I read your post again. If the campsite own the farmland and it was their machinery at 6.30 then that is not on. I have zero control over what happens in the fields round my house as I don’t own them. But I lived on a farm as a child and if things were on say a party or someone died and there was a wake the fields near such houses would not be worked.

They harvest when conditions are hop to it. They can’t predict the exact day. If you know a farm is next door you have to go with it.

If you stay in the countryside in August & September, you'll hear harvest.

Be grateful it was only from 6.30 am, With satellite guidance, my neighbour harvests all night. There's nothing quite like a Massey Ferguson with its headlights blazing, bombing up and down outside your bedroom window at 3am. 😁

But it's only for a few weeks a year and part of rural life. You have the opportunity to get up and out earlier. Enjoy !!

Remember that it's the glorious 12th tomorrow, so better avoid all moorland too ! 😂😂😂

Harvest is not timetabled to occur on specific days it’s wholly dependent on the weather and whether the crop is at its optimum for harvest. A farmer may have to wait until the end of a warm day when the moisture content in the grain is at the correct percentage. Then it’s a rush to get the job done before it rains or the temperature drops to a level where the moisture level increases again.
We were at a wedding at the weekend, surrounded by fields being harvested. They were working all day and night. Since it’s normal for everyone, no one noticed. Although one of the bailers was a bit squeaky when it was close by.
I actually love the sound of harvest, it means that the weather is warm and dry. Farmers are far more accurate than the Met office.

OP, I don't want to pile on, and I think others have explained farming very well.

You should always expect noise in the countryside, but it's amazing how many people move to the country expecting it to be quiet, or move next to a church and then want the bellringing stopped....

I am sorry if your holiday is being ruined, and I do get that. People are joking about seagulls, but I remember one holiday being ruined when staying in a cheap hotel with no double glazing, and the sound of the seagulls on the roof started around 4-5am and it was horrendous.

DB is a farmer and trying to do the harvest around the weather. Sometimes they have to start early and finish late.

Not aimed at you OP, but people do need to get a grip and realise that life goes on for everyone else when you are on holiday. Leaving bad reviews in airbnb's about smells or noise, is absolutely ridiculous. Don't stay in the countryside if you don't like the countryside...

@yonem but the farmer might have only decided to harvest the field at 6.30am or maybe earlier in the morning. It really is only possible when all conditions are met. The day before it might have been looking good for harvesting and then the moisture reading not right so have to leave it for a few hours. It has to be that precise.

@HardworkSendHelp I think it is a neighbouring farm. But when do you expect them to do the harvest if the campsite is open all August?

I think we might live in the same place 😂.

The noise of a Massey engine is one of my favourite sounds. I'd take it over a Rolls Royce every time.

I couldn’t agree more!

Many many years ago my ex wife & I left a Cottage in Dorset funnily enough as the owners were having major noisy work done next door.

But its not the owners doing it, its normal Country activity

Oh & someone I know found a quiet corner of a New Forest Camp Site, went to bed thinking the trains had stopped for the night when there was a squeal of brakes and the engineers spent the night digging up the tracks with floodlights, generators, drills etc

I'm sorry OP I'm now finding it even more hilarious you say you have no idea about harvest etc as you're a teacher.
You do know the history of why you're on a 6 week holiday right now???

When you book a hotel near a motorway, it warns you of noise. If there is construction work they tell you. Is it entirely unreasonable if you are offering holiday accommodation that you warn guests of noise? Do they get an exemption from being honest about that just because they are a farm? Anyone making noise they know will affect guests and not telling them must know that is poor business? Sure, it’s harvest time, was it clear the field next door would be harvested?

If OP was wild camping, the fair enough, but they are offering a place for people to be on holiday as part of their business. Fair warning so people could choose not to go would be the appropriate thing.

Farmers can't always plan ahead, they are completely weather dependent. In addition, many use contractors so have little say and sometimes little notice.
You should be aware when booking anywhere rural in August that there is a high chance there will be harvesting noise and traffic, cos it's harvet time!

A camping site in middle of farmland should carry a warning that there may be farming noises 🙄? This is the problem with this bloody country.

@BoredZelda have you not read all the posts explaining why it won’t be known a field is going to be harvested until it is actually being harvested!

Is the campsite marketed as being adjacent to a working farm? Obviously farmers can’t know the exact dates they’ll be harvesting, but it’s reasonable as a paying customer to know if you’re booking somewhere which may be really noisy and at really early morning/ late night times.

@SameKeyThoughyou say you camped here previously with no problems so maybe you were lucky with timing or maybe there is someone new farming the land with different crops.

for many people on holiday, location is key. You’ll need to chalk it up to experience this time but I wouldn’t book there in future and it’s fair enough to comment on the noise in your review.

of course harvesting the crops is essential - no one sane would argue with that. But as a paying customer it’s reasonable to know what type of holiday you’re buying. We did, years back, stay for a weekend in an Air BnB where the host hadn’t made clear that it was next to a working farm and the noise was awful. It was a new property to the Air BnB market and barely any reviews at that point. We left a fair, honest review and tbf, I noticed later that the host had updated the listing to state that it was adjacent to a working farm.