As the recent host of the BBC’s Winterwatch, Springwatch and Autumnwatch series, Wild Ken Hill Farm is arguably one of the most famous in the UK. While we are unlikely to encounter a Lesser Spotted (Chris) Packham, this is a fantastic opportunity to see how a working estate is restoring nature and combatting climate change alongside food production.
In a tour guided by Farm Manager Nick Padwick, you’ll learn about the general principles of soil health in practice as well as how to quantify improvements. In the absence of those all-important metrics to assess impact of programmes such as ELMs, this is an opportunity to learn how the appliance of science is bringing real tangible benefits (you might even see a microscope in the farm office).
We’ll also see their composting process and the impact of compost and extracts on soil health. We might even spot some of the rare, incredible wildlife on the farm. Ebb and Flow are two female beavers introduced onto the farm as nature’s own water engineers to help re-wet some key woodland (though as nocturnal creatures, they do their grafting at night).
The tour will be run by Nick Padwick, Farm Manager, Regen Farmer & Soil Food Web Laboratory Analyst. Nick is one of the UK’s leading regenerative farmers, with over 35 years of farming experience, featuring regularly in Farmer’s Weekly, and one of a handful of farmers in the UK studying Dr Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web course.
The tour will run from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm, followed by an optional lunch and a roundtable discussion about our learnings and insights, at the award-winning Rose and Crown pub in nearby Snettisham. This will be a chance to share views and best practices – as well as networking with other members of the Agri-TechE community.
