The Next Generation

Devora’s five children were born and brought up on the farm and regularly worked in the apple orchards and apple packhouse during their school holidays. Four of the five siblings eventually came back home to the farm to work after leaving university and other careers. From the late 1970s onwards Susanna, Jonathan, Tamara, and Carmella worked with Devora on the farm and ran the Copella business and Golf Club.

After the sale of Copella Fruit Juices to Tropicana UK in 1997, Stoke by Nayland Golf Club was further developed by the second generation of the family. In 1999 the newly-expanded complex, then renamed Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf & Spa, was opened. This now included a 30-bedroom hotel – which was later increased to 80 bedrooms – Peake Fitness health club, Peake Spa, an extensive banqueting and conference facility, a restaurant, and a driving range.

Then in 2012, the five luxurious Apple Tree Lodges were hand-built on the idyllic site that had been home to the WW2 Women’s Land Army Hostel, purchased from the War Agricultural Department by Bill and Devora back in 1950. There is also planning permission to build a further 10 lodges on the site.

Since 2012 the Resort has enjoyed continued success and added a gift shop, new clubhouse, and the Gallery restaurant to the Hotel complex.  It has won numerous awards, including Best Large Hotel and Best Business Tourism Venue. And because of its creation and use of sustainable sources of energy, there have also been a number of Environmental awards, including Best Green Enterprise and Sustainable Tourism. The company has also won two Family Business of the Year Awards – in 2013 and again in 2019.

Meanwhile, Boxford Farms has continued to grow from strength to strength, with Devora and Bill’s grandson and 3^rd generation family director Robert Rendall, at the helm. In recognition of their innovative and outstanding growing techniques, the company won the national Top Fruit Grower of the Year Award in 2015 and Soft Fruit Grower of the Year Award in 2018.