www.finchamsfarm.com

About Us

Situation

All Saints Barn @Finchams Farm is situated on the Norfolk Suffolk boarder on the edge of the Thetford Forest. It lies just off the A1066, outside the village of Garboldisham, on what is known as ‘Garboldisham Ling. Although surrounded by agro business enterprises it is 3 miles from Lopham and Redgrave fen and within cycling distance of Knettishaw Heath, so an area of diverse lanscapes, and places to explore.

The Farm comprises a set of barns around a courtyard the centre piece being the traditional hay barn, with the horse and cattle sheds with the pig sty attached to the back of the horses stable, and a Granary. Beyond the pond is the eco-cabin and straw-bale building I added.

History

I came here in 1991 with 3 of my 4 children from a housing coop in London. The coop was connected to a charity whose project was hospitality and a concern for people in need. In 1986 it became home to my 4 godchildren whom I later adopted. In 1991 we moved to Fincham’s Farm with the aim of creating a supportive community where sustainability and care of creation would be added to our already adopted aims of the original Trust. In those early days the main objective was to develop a barn which would provide us with a home. We were blessed to be able to live in comfort while waiting using the main farmhouse which a friend had bought. Our double blessing was to welcome the friend of a friend from Serbia who was a master builder, so together we developed the old stable block to provide our home. As the years passed and children’s needs for independent living developed so did the building programme: the Den, the Granary, a study in the large hay barn, then in 1996 the eco-cabin, became home to my daughter Mary, David and their little family. As the grand-children grew we added a straw-bale extension to provide a bedroom for each of them. While developing the Granary a friend introduced me to a small Christian community who had a practice of ‘monthly working days’. A group came to help. And thus began a now12 year long relationship of inspiring, challenging and prayerful encounters. We owe much to their practical help, and patient, compassionate support which has brought me safely through many and sad trials.

While all that was happening we were also involved in developing a Reed-bed system to deal with our sewage, a garden to provide us with food, and restoring the meadows to their former glory to provide for the ever increasing number of animals.
In the early days, during the period when I was exploring alternatives to the exorbitly expensive and chemical Klargestor[Sewage disposal unit], I was blessed to be introduced to CAT[Centre of Alternative Technology] by our Architect Dave Cummings. Thus began another journey of discovery : Permaculture; Wwoofing [then Willing Workers on Organic Farms] sustainable building; companion planting; compost loos; building with tyres, straw, bottles…..and so it goes on, ever learning new ways, sharing experiences with others, and to my delight, 5 years ago discovering ‘A Rocha, Christian Ecology Link, and Ringsfield Ecology Centre just a few miles away. The latter organizations have given expression to every thing I feel about out duty, indeed our calling as Christians, to care for creation. In this way I have managed to bring together the aim I set in the early days of ‘People care, and Earth care’

The present

Big changes have taken place in the last year since the family was rehoused in the neighbouring village. This left the eco-cabin empty.It has now been renovated thanks to all the help from the fellowship and wwoofers. For the moment it is available for holiday lets. cf. activities.
With the skilled help of a Romanian couple-friends of friends- the greenhouse, potting shed and woodsheds are finally finished. So many volunteers have had participated in this project since it was started 4 years ago. Many thanks to you all if you are reading this.