by Phil Pitt

Once, cabbages were king at Birchington's Quex Park Estate.

Today, visitors to this 1,800-acre site, boasting one of Kent's foremost stately homes, will not find many cabbages, but they will find plenty to see and do.

For Anthony Curwen, managing director of Quex Park, the cattle, sheep, lions, zebra and antelope which comprise the estate farm's more unusual residents have been the driving factor in its transformation into one of Kent's most successful tourist attractions.

Anthony recently became a finalist in a Farmers' Weekly Award for diversification.

The animals are only part of the story. The house itself sits in the midst of beautiful gardens complete with Victorian glasshouses and fountains. Historically, the farm is family-owned and has been passed down from generation to generation, and is now governed by a trust.

The house is home to the Powell-Cotton museum, which features one of the largest and most highly valued taxidermy collections of African wildlife in the country.

Anthony grew up on the estate while his father was farm manager, but he did not begin working there until 1987 at a point when the farm's core business of vegetable farming was beginning to struggle.

"We initially grew cauliflowers from October to June," Anthony explained. "In 1991 we made £200,000, but by the end of the decade we were losing £200,000. Despite better efficiencies, yields and quality, the returns we were getting were awful - we couldn't get a good premium for our products."

Realising the business was in serious trouble, Anthony pulled out of cauliflowers and began to consider where he could add value to the business, with the profitability of traditional farming at an all-time low. The trust Anthony manages the estate on behalf of found itself in a "diversify or bust" dilemma.

Given the estate's facilities, the farm was not suited to industrial or storage use. But with 135,000 people living within a four-mile radius, Anthony realised tourism and leisure projects represented a huge opportunity. The farm holding comprised numerous old outbuildings, and a decision was made to convert these into a series of separate businesses tenanted to individuals working on the estate.

Diversification began in 2002 and gradually saw the farm evolve into its present set up of an indoor kids' activity centre (Jungle Jim's), equestrian livery, wedding and conference venue, popular restaurant and Sunday carvery, farm shop, museum and much more.

But Quex Park's venture into new territory does not stop there. It has branched out into the processed foods market, making its own cold pressed rape seed oil (which has better health benefits than olive oil) and selling it at local farm shops.

Anthony says: "This region has its challenges so we have to get the market right but, I thought, if we could get more people on to the estate it would help bring more people to the museum. Four years later we sub-let the cow sheds to create a craft village, where everything that's sold is made on-site. We also opened a garden centre, a 10-acre livery field and we rent out farm buildings as offices and workshops. I couldn't afford to have any risk so I went on the tenancy route for most of the businesses. It's also important when diversifying to ensure you have the right commercial insurance in place."

The projects have proved so successful Anthony has been able to spend more time and money developing the core farm business as well as developing stronger links with other diversification enterprises. A farm shop and restaurant was opened 18 months ago, with Anthony supplying both enterprises with food produced on the farm.

"By promoting our produce's regional credentials I'm trying to make the estate a destination," he adds. "The diversification is an on-going thing. In the 1970s Kent saw its heyday as a holiday destination, but people are increasingly going abroad, or to the coast.

"Despite this, we are only an hour away from a lot of people - our challenge is tapping into this market. About 200,000 visitors come to the estate every year and if we can market this as a destination it would be brilliant. We are now making a strong profit now and I hope that the estate will double its profits again in the coming years."