Introduction

Set in the Teme River Valley in Worcestershire, The Fold is a 250-acre Soil Association certified organic farm, owned by the inspiring and forward-thinking William Tooby. The farm includes a 45-acre plant nursery, a four-acre community farm, 84 acres of arable, 22 acres of willow coppice, 28 acres of permanent pasture and 38 acres of woodland and water. The Fold is more than a farm: it is a vibrant space where food is grown, local businesses are supported, and people and wildlife find refuge. It stands as a living example of how farms can be transformed into multi-functional spaces that nourish both people and the planet.

I was lucky enough to spend a weekend at The Fold, staying in my tent in the camping field, getting to know the team, visiting the monthly artisan market, and exploring both the site and the surrounding area. The contrast between The Fold and its wider landscape was striking. On Sunday, I set out for a long walk – first along the farm’s nature trails, then across the River Teme to explore further afield. Beyond The Fold’s boundaries, the atmosphere shifted; footpaths were inaccessible, and the agricultural landscape felt hostile and disconnected from nature. The experience underscored the vital role of places like The Fold – safe havens for people and nature, offering a glimpse of what the wider countryside could become.

From Tradition to Transformation

Like many farms across the UK, The Fold has undergone a huge transformation over the years. Under the management of William’s father, John, the farm produced hops and fruit, reflecting the traditional farming landscape of the region during that time. Pigs were also introduced, producing manure to fertilise the hops. In the 1960’s the farm became home to Bransford Nurseries, gradually replacing the increasingly unprofitable orchards and hop fields.

When William returned to work on the farm in the 1970’s, he bought fresh ideas inspired by travel and his love of the arts. He was deeply aware of the issues facing our society, climate and environment, and knew that the farm would need to once again adapt and evolve to meet new challenges. William began to grow specialist bread wheats and founded the Tooby Mills flour company. However, when the nursery faced economic pressure, he shifted his focus to stabilising it, ensuring its viability and protecting the livelihoods of its employees.

Over the next 20 years, with William at the helm, the nursery became Bransford Garden Plants and then Bransford Webbs Plant Company, growing wholesale quality plants to garden centres across the UK. The nursery was now a profitable business, but William couldn’t help but wonder what the true cost of this model was. Whilst he had done a lot of work with the Horticultural Trades Association to develop the science around the positive benefits of gardening to people and communities, he knew that he wanted the farm to be a place that not only supported livelihoods but also regenerated land, nurtured biodiversity, and produced healthy, organic food.

Moving Away from Livestock

William was also reflecting on his own dietary choices and the role of livestock on the farm. The farm supported a small flock of sheep, and William cherished caring for them, but he was also conscious of the destruction that livestock farming posed to the natural world and did not want to continue slaughtering animals. Believing that meaningful change must begin with personal action, William chose to become vegetarian. True to the pioneering spirit that defines his personality, he also removed all livestock from the farm, and the land has been managed with absolutely minimal animal inputs ever since.

The Birth of The Fold

With the support of his family and a coach, William began to bring his interests together into a new vision for the farm. After a significant journey of learning, in 2007 The Fold was set up as Community Interest Company (CIC), with the mission to improve the wellbeing of people, communities, and the planet.

The Fold’s operations are now under the capable leadership of Suzanne, who draws upon her background as an educator to coordinate a four-acre community farm; a café serving vegetarian meals from farm produce; an honesty shop; a Natural Therapy Centre; eight studio workshops for artists and makers; public nature trails; a campsite; and spaces that can be hired for events, courses and festivals.

The community farm is set over four-acres and includes polytunnels and glasshouses, a no-dig market garden and a field-scale vegetable garden. It had supplied produce for 60 veg boxes, as well as the café and honesty shop, but recent changes in legislation around volunteers has forced a change in direction. New head-grower Jude is now leading its next chapter, considering new markets and increased mechanisation to make up for the reduced labour force. Stockfree Farm will be supporting The Fold with guidance from one of their advisors, stockfree pioneer Iain Tolhurst, who will visit the farm and provide suggestions on how the land can be managed into the future.

Stockfree Arable Farming At Scale

The wider farm includes a combination of woodland, permanent pasture that provides wildlife habitats as well as grass to make compost, a short-rotation willow coppice that produces woodchip to heat the whole site with a 50kW biomass boiler, and 84-acres of arable. The arable side of the farm, a partnership between William and his wife Awantika, is still in the early years of its journey. Supported by farm worker Charles, and a local contractor, they work towards a pioneering goal: to grow organic combinable crops for human consumption at scale, without livestock or animal inputs.

They are implementing a six-year arable rotation: 1st wheat, 2nd wheat, a legume break crop, 2nd wheat, and a two-year fertility building cover crop. The 2nd wheats are always heritage varieties, grown with the support of the UK Grain Lab. Changing weather patterns, combined with the variable conditions across the farm, loamy soils in the floodplain and heavier soils in other areas of the farm, necessitate a flexible and tailored approach to management.

The team are experimenting with a mixture of different practices, innovating to discover how best to work with nature and still produce a viable crop. These practices include leaving some fields fallow to manage weeds; direct drilling; continuous cover cropping with clover understories; bi-cropping; composting; cover cropping; dressing seeds using compost extract from a Johnson-Su bioreactor; and trialling new crops such as lentils, chickpeas, quinoa, linseed and borlotti beans. Whilst there is still a journey ahead, the results are already encouraging. This year’s April Bearded wheat reached a protein level of 17.3% – a significant success for stockfree organic systems.

A key development is the conversion of a former cow shed into a granary which will be completed by the end of the year. The granary will enable grain to be cleaned, dried, stored and milled on site. The facility could store future produce such as nuts and even serve neighbouring arable farmers.

This represents a major step toward greater resilience and independence for The Fold. As this project nears its completion, there are unknowns ahead, but William, Awantika and Charles all have a calm and measured approach to problem-solving – where there’s a will there’s a way!

Vision and Values

At the heart of The Fold is William’s search for how to bring the sacred back into farming – a vision rooted in beauty, compassion, spirituality, and respect for cultures worldwide. For William, the farm’s transformation is not a matter of pride but of gratitude: a blessing to have been entrusted with the land’s care and evolution.
The Fold today is a beacon of what is possible when creativity, community, and stewardship come together. It shows that farming without livestock can not only work, but flourish – feeding people, supporting livelihoods, and regenerating the natural world.