A subsequent tenant of Dowsby Hall for almost 40 years was Henry Burtt, a farmer and seed specialist, who was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1981 for his services to the industry.

Born in 1892, he became a farm manager in 1921 and moved to Dowsby Hall to start farming on his own account in 1929, subsequently pioneering production techniques for grass and corn seeds and extending his activities to growing more than 1,000 acres of herbage seed crops.

In 1944, he founded the Lincolnshire Seed Growers' Association which, under his chairmanship, gained international recognition, and he became affectionately known as the Ambassador for British Seeds, lecturing and broadcasting on farming subjects in many countries.

He also achieved some fame as the originator of the long-running BBC Radio programme The Archers which became popular as an everyday story of country folk and is still being broadcast today. 

He died in 1987, aged 94.

See also

Rippingale and The Archers     Dowsby