Welcome to Norfolk…

I dropped a hint that I might be farming somewhere different in my last Fresh Fields post. Regular readers of my Farming Simulator posts will know that I have been looking for an English map to farm on. There are some good maps out there based on real-world areas but they either didn’t seem to have the right mix of fields or they were a little rough around the edges when compared with the absolute best. The situation is probably best described by the words “didn’t gel with me” rather than any blame attaching to map authors. I think I’ve been spoilt by the excellent Osada map and that has played its part too.

If you clicked on the screenshot at the bottom of the last post (thanks if you did!), you could have read the names on the sign post beside the tractor – M.Constable, Briston, Saxthorpe – those names were the clue to where I’ll be farming. I’ve now started the preliminary set-up for my new farm series on this map. We are in Norfolk but the sign below tells where in that large county we will be working…

…The countryside to the west of the town of Saxthorpe.

On my first few looks at this map I think the author, Farm Sim Brisco, has done an excellent job of capturing the essence of the area. It’s an area I know very well – I have had a number of holidays here in the not too distant past, staying with a retired work colleague in Briningham. Here’s a screenshot of the area on Google Maps…

…with Briningham top left and Saxthorpe bottom right. For the purposes of the in-game map, Farm Sim Brisco has turned the map orientation counter-clockwise so that the B1354, Briston Road, forms a horizontal line through the lower half of the mapped area. I have decided to use the equipment and fields provided when a player chooses ‘easy mode’. This means that much of my early gameplay relating to my farm will be along this road. Here’s the lower section of the in-game map where, with the exception of the triangular area right of centre, the fields I own are highlighted in red…

…My farm is just across the lane from field 1 in the bottom lefthand corner. The farmers store is over in the bottom righthand corner. This is how it looks on a real-world Google Map…

…My farm is marked by the yellow arrow and my owned fields, by blue circles. In the bottom right you can see BT Saxthorpe – the local telephone exchange has become the farmers store for the purposes of the game😅

A quick note to conclude this post – I’m using the in-game month of August to prepare for starting the series in the month of September. This means harvesting all the fields with ripe crops so that the nothing is lost. I have made one change to the machines supplied – I changed the harvester. Unlike Osada, I will be playing in the modern era from the start and I intend to implement precision farming methods as quickly as possible. The farming will also have a very ‘East Anglian’ slant – think lots of Grain, Rape, Sugar Beet and Potatoes. I’ve already got a number of dilemma’s that will certainly form part of the first post where I’ll set the scene. Now I’d better go get the preparations completed 😎👍