Our Story
Little Haugh in Norton, Suffolk, is a beautiful 160 acre estate of mixed arable, woodland and grassland with lakes and streams flowing through the land. We grow our vegetables in the half-acre walled garden converted to no-dig beds.
Little Haugh
Over the past few years, the current owners have converted some of the arable land back into woodland pasture and reintroduced livestock.
The idea behind the introduction of large herbivores comes from these animals' excellent land management skills. Allowing cattle, ponies and pigs to roam the woodland pasture creates a complex ecosystem for other species to thrive. It is important to refrain from overstocking to avoid overgrazing of the land.
Beavers have recently been introduced in a large enclosed area at Little Haugh. A keystone species, beavers create and maintain habitats where an abundance and diversity of life can flourish.
Who grows your veg?
Hi! I'm Jason, I moved to Little Haugh in February 2024 to begin this new venture growing vegetables in the walled garden. I have had a keen interest in growing my own food for many years now, starting with helping at my parents allotment. I spent some years traveling around Europe and volunteering at small farms and homesteads, always growing veg. It was my dream to turn my passion for growing into a job, and I love getting up every day to get out into the garden!
I'm a passionate advocate for eating local food. It just makes sense to me- produce picked within a day, grown chemical-free, and you have a connection with the person growing it.
History
There has been a dwelling here of some type since around the year 800, although we do not know who the owner was then. The first known owner was Reginald de Damartin, Earl of Boulogne, who owned Little Haugh Hall from 1212.
The house today is centred around the home of the Reverend Dr Cox Macro (1689-1767) the son of Thomas Macro, a prosperous grocer and apothecary and the owner of Cupola House in Bury St Edmunds, who bought LHH in 1689.
The picture below shows Macro's original three story Jacobean red brick house with a Cupola, perhaps modeled on Macro's Father's House in Bury. It is rather different from the Georgian Stucco two story fronted house that LHH is today.
In the 1830s, Peter Huddlestone rebuilt LHH in the modern Georgian style, removing the top floor with the cupola and rendering the front facade.
All of the original outbuildings, most of which remain today, date back to the 17th century as does the Walled Garden.
The greenhouse in the Walled Garden was built in 2007 as a copy of the original.
