This year was Liz and Bill Nickson’s second foray into Open Farm Sunday, a national series of events designed to close the gap between food producers and consumers and provide opportunities to see farm animals and wildlife management at close range.  At less than 1 hectare (about the size of a football pitch), theirs was one of the smallest sites in the country taking part, but they managed to pack quite a lot of interest into their little corner of <st1:place w:st="on">West Suffolk</st1:place>.

Part of the aim is to make the links between food production and its effect on the rural landscape, so there were opportunities to get up close and personal with  cows and calves, a dozen sheep and a couple of ponies.  These animals graze the Nickson’s land and help to produce the conditions that suits a wide range of wildlife.  There were also some day-old chicks and a beehive display, wildflower identification and a pond dip display with a wide range of aquatic creatures.  As well as local people, the event was attended by invited ‘Private Nature Reserve’ owners, with participation by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. 

The moated site provides habitat for great crested newts, grass snakes and quite a nice range of wildflowers.  The way the site is managed helps to protect its historical interest as a fine example of an exceptionally well-preserved medieval moat.

According to Bill Nickson, ‘Open Farm Sunday is a great experience, both for visitors and their hosts.  We’ve tried to be open with people that ours is a tiny little small-holding rather than a farm, but we’ve had the opportunity to demonstrate some of the issues that also affect commercial farmers.  It’s been really rewarding to see the event being so well supported and enjoyed by local people, and we’ve had visitors ranging in age from 6 months to our local historian Vera Lloyd, who helped to explain the historical interest of the site and at 88 is practically an archaeological feature in her own right.  We’ve had fantastic feedback from the people who attended, and it was great to see more than 70 people at a little local event aimed mainly at the local community.  I work for Natural England who support Open Farm Sunday, so for me it’s a great opportunity to interact with visitors and see things from their perspective’.

Open Farm Sunday is organised nationally by LEAF, Linking Environment and Farming.