An extraordinary connection here was Chris working with David Corry, the agroforestry research officer at Leeds’ where Martin Wolfe learned his trade, which inspired him to establish Wakelyns.
Emma was delight to re-meet. Her family from Orford, which is why they were here in Suffolk.
Chris advice: Ideally you need a small tractor and topper to deal with it whether you grass it down or not. Will ask my friends in Natural England what they would do. If you leave some as meadow /wild flower you will not want dominant grass species but anywhere you grass until you decide what to do with it could have cheaper common species. Less vigorous ones will take less cutting to keep under control. I’m sure you will have plenty of good advisors down there. Our field has been flailed and grass taken off and then will get a hay crop off each year to reduce fertility. Hoping we end up with a wild flower meadow.Just been talking to Piers and he agrees that the amount of power a flail uses would mean you would only be able to run a small one and for 17.5 acres that would take some time. Best thing might be to grass down and then get someone else to top it until you know exactly what you want to do and how much meadow you have to deal with. If you want a wild flower meadow then it’s best to make hay to take away nutrients after arable. If anyone is interested in free hay they might do that for the hay crop otherwise you would have to pay contractors and then sell the hay.
Kaliwood 