Mature traditional hedgerows segment the farmland, alongside blocks of woodland planted within the last 40 years.
These provide a home to a wide range of flora and fauna. We have been lucky enough to hear nightingales, cuckoos and skylarks on the farm over the years.
The woodland is managed for biodiversity, firewood, the production of cricket bat willows and weaving willows.
Spotlight on Water Willows
Water Willows is the only certified organic willow grower in the UK, certified by the Soil Association to maintain the high standards of practice. Claire & Julian Askham-Conroy have spent many years in the agricultural / horticultural industry growing a wide range of crops as well as working in the plant retail sector.
In 1999, they planted willows with a view to producing enough willow to weave baskets & living structures. Year by year new willows have been added and there are now over 130 varieties growing. Over the last ten years, sales of willow and willow products have grown steadily. The Water Willows team have also built a range of bespoke living willow structures all over the UK in hospitals, theme parks, schools and even in Kew Gardens.
Harvesting is undertaken by hand with the crop being allowed to dry naturally. We are locking up some of the world’s excess Carbon Dioxide with willow, offering a diverse, natural and sustainable habitat for wildlife whilst producing beautiful willows.
