Empowering the local community in north Devon
Background
Perched on the top of the highest point between Dartmoor and Exmoor, Pickards in Burrington is a historic grain mill dating back to 1846. It has been run by the same family for six generations.
Graham Short now has the mantle for running the mill, which has evolved into a multi-faceted agricultural business, supplying grain, animal feed, countrywear and agricultural consulting.
The challenge
Pickards, a historical agricultural business in Burrington, needed superfast broadband in order to remain interconnected with its chain of stores dotted around north Devon.
The family-run business also wanted to help provide superfast connectivity to people in rural communities in the valleys below, many of whom are struggling to access superfast broadband…
Having these superfast speeds means that we can connect in real time with our sister site in Washford, which is essential for our business. The Airband engineers have always been very friendly and pleasant, the service works exceptionally well and we have had no downtime.
The solution
“From the top of the mast on our Burrington hilltop site, you can see Chelmsley, Chorley, Kings Nympton, Taunton, High Bibbington – and even Barnstaple on a good day. We were a high site for the original Wild West network and when Airband first signed us up as a high site, the gantries on our giant grain silos had more dishes than a restaurant.
“Airband wanted to put up one monopole transmitter mast which would do away with all the different dishes on the gantries.
“A comment from the Parish Council meant that the original site for the mast was refused, so we put the mast in one of our slightly lower fields, which meant that we had to keep one or two dishes on the silos, but that wasn’t a problem.
The results
“We now have fibre-optic broadband from BT and superfast broadband from Airband, so our speeds are really high.
“We split the data and use our BT service to process data and our Airband service to process our internet and email – simply because it’s easier to do it that way. Having these superfast speeds means that we can connect in real time with our sister site in Washford, which is essential for our business. The Airband engineers have always been very friendly and pleasant, the service works exceptionally well and we have had no downtime.
“As a local family business we have always played an active role in the community. I am the chairman of the Parish Hall. My brother is the chairman of the Parish Council. We’re glad that we’re able to play a role in helping provide connectivity for people down in the valleys.
“Burrington has fibre now, but there are a lot of people just off there who have very poor broadband and it’s great that we’re part of the solution for them to access to superfast broadband.”
As a local family business we have always played an active role in the community. I am the chairman of the Parish Hall. My brother is the chairman of the Parish Council. We’re glad that we’re able to play a role in helping provide connectivity for people down in the valleys.
For more information and to see how Airband can help you, use our broadband coverage checker to check coverage and find out more about the packages available.
For more information on the Connecting Shropshire project please click here
Related Articles
Check availability:
