WADD FARM

A Community Small Holding & Nature Reserve

Two years ago, my wife and I were lucky enough to purchase just under eleven acres of beautiful meadowland in Snape, IP17. Our primary focus is to keep the land “as nature intended,” but alongside this, we would very much like to open it up to the community by creating a smallholding and nature reserve.

We have a gallery here showing the land and river etc

The Green Light Trust (GLT) have visited the land, and we are now having very positive discussions about partnering with them to launch their new “Thriving Spaces” initiative in early 2027 charged with bringing the wider community closer to nature. To support this initiative, we are actively engaging with local groups and organisations such as:

  • The Suffolk Wildlife Trust & Green Snape – both have visited and provided valuable insight feeding into the ‘master plan’
  • The local Brownies who are visiting in September to make hedgehog houses
  • Riverfly.org who carry out monthly audits of the aquatic life in the river
  • Caroline Wright – a local artist who we hope will start producing work in response to the landscape and potentially run artists’ workshops
 
We also have contacts at Alde Valley Academy’s SEND department, the Saxmundham surgery, HMP Hollesley Bay, and Leiston’s “Live Well Hub,” and we hope to secure volunteers from these organizations to work with the GLT.
 
Steve Manning has visited the land; he heads up both nature conservation & landscape restoration at Sizewell C and sits on the board of trustees for East Suffolk Trust (EaST) – again he has offered valuable insight and strategy. We will apply for funding from the EaST, the Natural Environment Improvement Fund (NEIF) and DEFRA etc for infrastructure including a ‘natural’ car park, WC facility, pond creation and fencing etc.
 
As part of this project, we are submitting a planning application to retain two shipping containers for storage and a riverside deck for community use.