FROM THE FARM

Since it opened, it has been wonderful to see people enjoying the wood-fired sauna experience at Leys Farm. The early bookings have gone really well, and the response from visitors has been incredibly enthusiastic and complimentary. One of our first groups even booked from Belgium before travelling over, having decided that a visit to the sauna should be part of

One of the most rewarding parts of creating our off-grid cabin stay in the Cotswolds has been welcoming people from all over the UK. Guests arrive from very different places and walks of life. Some are celebrating something special, some need a break after a busy few months, and others simply want a quiet few days away together. But there

There’s a quiet truth anyone who has ever tried to establish a wildflower meadow eventually learns: most years, nothing happens. You prepare the ground. You sow the seed. You wait through rain, drought, frost, and the long silence of soil doing whatever it pleases. And more often than not, wildflowers respond with absolute indifference. But then — every once in

Working With Ash Dieback at Leys Farm: Safety, Stewardship and a Long View Ash dieback has begun to show itself at Leys Farm, though most of our ash trees are still in the early stages. A thinning crown here, a patch of dieback there — subtle signs that something isn’t quite right. They are not collapsing, but they are changing,

People sometimes ask what The Wild Collective actually is. The honest answer is that it isn’t a club, a business or even a neatly defined project. It’s simply the name we’ve given to a set of ideas that have taken shape at Leys Farm over the years — ideas about land, nature, and the quiet work of looking after a

I want to tell you about the trees we have on the farm; trees we planted, protected, replaced, thinned and pruned. Trees that have grown alongside our children and now stand as living evidence of the positive impact we have had on this small corner of Oxfordshire. I will write this piece more factually than emotionally, but I should admit

By far the hardest part of the farm to manage is the lake – a one-acre body of water sitting quietly at the base of the valley. It forms the centrepiece of much of what we do here and, as an amenity, draws both people and wildlife in equal measure. Even this morning I saw a cabin guest in gloriously

So eventually the rain stopped (at least for a while), the ground started to dry and although the wind was bitterly cold we could start to consider Spring. It is always a busy time and, as the soil temperature slowly rises, we can begin to think about planting. Ideally we are looking for a soil temperature of around 7-10°C. Ultimately,

I have always been comfortable in my own company. It took a substantial portion of my adult life to realise that there was nothing wrong with that. For years I assumed it might be some sort of flaw – that perhaps I should feel a greater need for constant company or noise. But I don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I