Willowford Farm

Call Directions Website Contact the business

Willowford Farm Organic farm with self-catering accommodation on Hadrian's Wall We are an organic farm and B&B on Hadrian's Wall in the north of England.

26/09/2026

Nice to see lots of meadow waxcaps in the hay meadows this year. These fungi need stable, undisturbed soil and low-intensity, gentle management regimes - a habitat that's becoming increasingly rare.

20/09/2026

Moving the wool flock to fresh pasture via Hadrian's Wall footpath

10/09/2026

The swallows and martins have had good year but gathering like this usually suggests they will soon begin migrating south as the insects up here start to decline. It's an arduous journey of up to 6000 miles that crosses mountain ranges, the open sea and the world's biggest desert, thought to be navigated by instinct, memory and maybe a magnetic or sun compass. However they manage it, it's pretty astounding. We'll miss their incessant chatter and their slicing flight across the skies. But hopefully most of them will make it and many of the same individuals will return next Spring to the same nests and the cycle will start again.

I've started a podcast called On Common Ground exploring positive examples of land sharing. The first episode is on the ...
02/09/2026

I've started a podcast called On Common Ground exploring positive examples of land sharing. The first episode is on the link below. In it I speak to Sue Seymour about farming beside an internationally important bog and planting the "right trees in the right place".

https://zurl.co/SoG3V

16/08/2026

I found this wasp's nest that has been raided by a brave badger in the meadow.

🐝 vs 🦡

27/06/2026

We got our sheep clipped a couple of weeks ago. It was really exciting to see the fleece, which we will now send off to be processed into yarn.

It was also a relief to get the fleece off the sheep, especially when the heat wave arrived last week and with it the threat of flies.

04/06/2026

The hay meadows have sprung to life now the livestock have been moved off and the longer, warmer days are here. Over the last 15 years they've transformed from a sward dominated by rye and white clover to a species rich medley of grasses and wildflowers that supports a whole ecosystem - from insects to birds and small mammals, their predators and so on. We do lose a little quantity but gain a load of quality forage that the livestock love.

It's a joyful part of the farm.




13/05/2026

Dung beetles are absolutely vital and fascinating creatures. But they are under threat from our modern chemical, grain and shed dependent farming systems. Without them animal dung would just accumulate on the pasture, as they found in Austrailia where there are no native dung beetles interested in recycling the European poo. Not only do they recycle waste and enrich the soil, they also encourage earthworms and other soil life, reduce parasite burdens in livestock by making the dung less hospitable to their eggs, and their tunneling allows air and water to pe*****te over a meter deep. We need to learn to love them and not take them for granted.

Thanks to Dung Beetles for Farmers for their brilliantly informative website.

💩🪲🐄🌱

It's great to see the market garden filling up with summer crops. They look tiny now but in the next few weeks growth is...
11/05/2026

It's great to see the market garden filling up with summer crops. They look tiny now but in the next few weeks growth is incredibly strong and the garden changes day to day. The tricky part is keeping up!

Great to see most of the apple trees I grafted last month seem to have taken 🍎🌳😃
06/05/2026

Great to see most of the apple trees I grafted last month seem to have taken 🍎🌳😃

Address

Gilsland
Carlisle
CA87AA

Telephone

+441697747962

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Willowford Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Willowford Farm:

Shortcuts

Share

Category