Richard has lived on the Shotley peninsula all his life, and joined his parents on the farm in 1971. Hazel is a foreigner (all the way from Dorset!) and is not a farmer’s daughter! We have been living at Hill House since 1974. We farm 520 acres of mixed arable land growing winter wheat, winter & spring barley, sugar beet and potatoes (which we grow 1 year in 6).

Richard in his self-sown nectar margin in 2001 long before it was fashionable!

In addition there are 110 acres of marshland, which are part of the Orwell SSSI - a nationally important area for wading birds. It is also a RAMSAR site and a SPA. (Special Protection Area). Our marshes are protected by an earthen based stone fronted sea wall built after the 1953 floods but with lack of capital investment, global warming, leading to rising sea levels and other problems they may well be lost to the sea within the next 50 years, unless we can all do a bit more to prevent / slow down global warming.

We see ourselves as custodians of the land for our lifetime. The land is ours from which to derive our livelihood and then to pass on to the next generation in as good health (or even better) than when we took it on.

We have seen significant changes in agriculture in our farming careers from full-blooded maximum production utilising maximum advised levels of fertilizers and sprays and every scrap of land in production - to a period when environmental considerations have been at least as important if not more so than production, especially with low prices for the staple cereals, but during 2007 cereal prices have rocketed. There is significant discussion about the importance of home food production and although conservation is still important, food production itself has a higher priority.

We have joined the Defra (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) conservation scheme at its higher level, called HLS. Hazel has always liked livestock and helped out at Charity Farm where we kept our pigs - having a vertical learning curve as she knew very little about pigs! Her particular interest was the farrowing house where she helped look after 60 sows and their litters of piglets. Sadly the herd closed at the end of 2007 due to environmental constraints on our present site.

Photo: Stewart Harris (Lodge Landscapes)

Richard cultivating adjacent to Hill House Farm

Richard looks after the arable side and is interested in wildlife, the environment & archaeology. We have proof of many thousands of years of human occupation in this area - aerial photography – crop marks – detector finds with items ranging from Neolithic right through to modern lost coinage!

The River Orwell is considered by some to be the most ornithologically diverse estuary in Suffolk. There are walks with spectacular river views. Some take you along the river wall where you can view various species, depending on the season, from heron, a newcomer, the little egret, several waders, geese including Brent, Canada and Greylag, ducks - Mallard, Teal, Widgeon and Shellduck, lapwings, & Oyster Catchers. You may also catch sight of some rarer/shier birds like kingfisher, marsh harrier, little owl and short-eared owl.

You will find sea club-rush, brooklime, water starwort and fool’s water-cress (don’t be a fool & eat it as it’s poisonous!) in the ditches and rare plants such as Lesser Kaller Mint and Field Scabious can be seen on the marshes. Look for the flood mark of Feb 1953 engraved in the bricks of the Lower Yard below Hill House Farm on the way to the sea wall.

Bring your metal detector (autumn is the best time when the land has just been cultivated), or your artist’s palette and paint the wonderful river & estuary views.