Ringsfield Hall 21st Nov 2012

Location: Ringsfield Hall, Beccles

Project: EastFeast and Waveney Food for Thought

The first time I was shown around Ringsfield Hall, I bumped into various characters from the Wizard of Oz, including Dorothy, the Lion and the Scarecrow, which all added to the slightly surreal but lovely feeling of the place. Set in 14 beautiful acres of ground, there is lots to explore here, and the Hall runs various events and educational activities.  I've lived in Suffolk for a long time and never realised it was here - it really is worth a visit.

The Waveney Food for Thought project involves 6 sites at the moment, and Ringsfield Hall is one of these.  EastFeast is working with Ringsfield to incorporate growing to their already extensive list of activities.  At the moment I work on various sites for EastFeast and today my task was to see where the project had got to  and decide what to do next.

  

The Raised Beds of Ringsfield Hall

So far 4 large raised beds have been built and 2 are full enough to start planting. They were filled using well-rotted material from the compost heap which helps save on getting top soil and soil improver which is what has been needed on other sites. The beds are huge so we should be able to plant a large variety of crops, also there is more space if Ringsfield really wanted to get into more growing. Behind the raised beds is an old orchard and to the left is the most amazing beautiful old greenhouse.

Peacock proofing

The first job of the day is to get onions, garlic and broad beans planted. It's an easy job and in no time I've planted red and white onions and 2 types of garlic in the far left bed, leaving space to plant other onion relatives in the spring.  Two double rows of broad beans are planted in the far right bed, again, leaving space for more legumes come springtime.  Luckily I bump into Nigel, the handyman, who tells me of the marauding peacock that lives on site...so it's time for some seed protection - it's not pretty but it will do the trick.

The Greenhouse

After that I take a look around the gorgeous greenhouse, the lefthand end is obviously for potting things up but the righthand end has some well-established vines which need cutting back, it looks like autumn has arrived inside the greenhouse.

Left: Before I wielded my secateurs.......and right: after

I cleared everything out of the way, cut the vines back, dug out the weeds, and did many trips to and from the compost heap.  I love working with children, but every now and then I really enjoy days like this when I can get my teeth into a job.  I cut back all the vines, chopping them into small pieces so they would compost faster and I had a very satisfying job of pulling out some bindweed roots. I didn't get round to removing the rather happy looking Field Maple - a job for next time.

As I was tidying up, I met some of the residents who live in a yurt on the site, in particular a little boy who was very keen to take some pictures - so here is his handywork!

Raised beds, as interpreted by Horace