Welcome to the first version of the website for Wakelyns, an organic rotation agroforestry farming hub in Suffolk – one of the longest-established and most diverse of its kind in the UK. We’ll be adding lots more shortly.

Meanwhile, bookmark this page as a favourite and come back to see us soon!

Our 56 acres are divided into cropping alleys 12, 14 or 18 metres wide in which we are currently growing YQ and Q wheat, lentils, chia, oats, peas, and squash.

The tree rows are home to nearly 50 varieties of apples, pears, quinces, cherries, walnuts, hazelnuts, along with trees for timber and coppiced willow and hazel for thatching and biomass fuel.

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Wakelyn de Hartshill was apparently given this land in Suffolk in the mid 15^th century. The farmhouse dates back to about the 16^th century.

Ann and Martin Wolfe bought the farm in 1992 after Martin’s earlier scientific career had showed how mixing just three varieties of a cereal crop together could restrict disease and stabilise crop yield. We’ll add more information about his life scientific in due course.

Their idea was further to experiment with forms of agriculture by using diversity and reversing the trend to crop monoculture though organic rotation agroforestry.

Here’s a lovely interview with Ann and Martin on Radio 4’s On Your Farm programme from 1997 about their early plans at Wakelyns:

There’s lot of archive material of their life and work at Wakelyns which we’ll add shortly.

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What next?

Following Ann’s death in 2016 and Martin’s in 2019, the next generation of the Wolfe family wants to keep Wakelyns as a pioneer of sustainability, growing and developing grains, pulses and other important foods.

Meanwhile, we are gently shifting the focus to make Wakelyns a demonstration centre for the benefits and beauty of agroforestry, while also bringing a wider range of people to enjoy the things which make Wakelyns such a special place.

We hope to build on our links and collaborations across the organic, scientific, farming, food, baking, restaurant, environmental, ecological and political communities, locally and across the UK and beyond.

Led by Ann and Martin’s sons David and Toby, we are also developing other activities which support and celebrate the farming and food production at Wakelyns. Plans include returning vegetable growing to Wakelyns, housing a bakery, and creating accommodation to make Wakelyns a hub hosting courses and similar activities, as well as welcoming visitors and holiday makers.

Watch this space for the amazing archive and explanatory material we’ll add in due course. And also more news on what’s happening and our plans as they develop. Also follow us on twitter and instagram or add yourself to our contact database for our occasional newsletters.

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