The Ibbett Family

The Ibbett family name has been synonymous with the Bedfordia Group for three generations.

Claude Valentine Ibbett

Born in 1908 and a draper by trade, Claude, known as CV, was the founder of what is now the Bedfordia Group of companies. He took the initial risk to buy the land for his first construction project and then built up the development and housing business, Besbuilt Ltd, as well as purchasing the first farm all before WW2. During the war he farmed in partnership with Mr ‘Jock’ McKay and with their combined expertise, the farm expanded to over 700 acres. CV also started a gravel business (Welford Gravel), purchasing land wherever gravel could be quarried and during the war supplied gravel for airfields. The business became a significant supplier of gravel in the UK, providing all the gravel for the construction of the M1 between St Albans and the Watford Gap. The gravel business was eventually sold in 1960 which released equity for other businesses to develop.

Since then, the Group has seen numerous changes and developments over its 75 year history, with interests in house building, engineering, printing, plant hire, and farm equipment as well as its current activities in agriculture, automotive, eco-technology and property.

Clifton John Claude Ibbett

Clifton Ibbett was born in 1937 and joined the family business in 1956, when the Company was still involved in gravel extraction, house building and farming. In 1967, having actively and very successfully developed the farming business, Clifton took over the running of the group of companies. Over the next 30 years Clifton was responsible for growing and developing the Group from its small beginnings into a large, well-respected and diverse entity – still firmly based in Bedfordshire but by now with representation and trading activities right across the country.

Clifton sold the Besbuilt home building business in 1968 and developed Bedfordia Plant Hire which grew into a national business and was eventually sold in 1980. During this time, he also took on the John Deere Tractor franchise which laid the foundations for Bedfordia's automotive businesses today, as well as investing in significant land acquisitions – many of which have since been sold for development.

Between the mid-60’s and the mid-90’s, the Bedfordia Group, with Clifton at the helm, was involved in numerous other businesses including printing (Pressletta), packaging (JB Ward), trailer manufacture (Courtburn and Dyson Trailers), mechanical moles (Grundomat), welding and positioning equipment (Courtburn and and Co-Weld), haulage (Bedfordia Haulage), Christian holiday tours (Raymond Cook Holidays), gravel extraction (Radwell Gravels), leasing and hire purchase (Biddenham Asset Finance) and housebuilding (Milton Homes).

John Charles Ibbett

John was born in 1962 and joined the company when he was 21. Like his father, John started work in the farming business, where he was responsible for more than doubling the size of the arable division (from 2,500 to 5,500 acres), as well as the introduction of a 400 dairy herd and a grain store operation. Since 1995, he has undertaken the role of Chief Executive of the Bedfordia Group, setting the strategy and growth aspirations to take it forward into future generations. His long term vision has resulted in the development of the Group’s responsible values, creation of corporate governance structures (such as the Group and subsidiary boards) and development of a structured but dynamic divisionalised business. The result has been a further trebling of the Group’s size to become the multi-million pound enterprise that it is today, operating in the four market sectors of agriculture, automotive, eco-technology and property . John has also been the driving force behind the Group's most recent innovation – the development of the BIOGEN anaerobic digestion (AD) technology.