A whistle stop tour of Forty Hall’s rich history
Nestled on the edge of north London, within the grounds of Forty Hall Estate in Enfield lies Forty Hall Farm. This certified organic peri-urban farm boasts a market garden, a variety of animals, London’s only commercial vineyard, a community orchard and a farm shop. The farm sits on top of Forty hill - a pile of flinty gravel and the last knockings of a glacier which lay across central England.
After being passed along lines of royalty and eventually falling into disuse, the site of Forty Hall Farm lay largely forgotten until bought by Enfield Council in the 1950s and opened as a public park. Capel Manor College took over in the 1990s, initially housing sheep for student education. The farm gradually expanded to include goats, pigs and chickens, with the market garden established in 2013.
A Community Centred Approach
In the market garden we grow seasonal, Soil Association-certified organic veg for our local community. These are sold through our veg bag scheme Enfield Veg Co (which delivers to pick-up points across Enfield and Barnet), our on site farm shop, monthly farmers’ market, and Better Food Shed - which enables us to share our produce with other small scale growers like Growing Communities and OrganicLea.
Our farm is unique not only as a working farm but also as an educational hub. As well as a team of growers and invaluable volunteers, groups of students from Capel Manor College work on the farm to gain first-hand, practical experience as part of their learning. We also host regular primary school visits, fostering a connection with food growing with the younger generation, and welcome groups with support needs through Enfield council social care.
How we grow
Working in a beautiful old farmyard with buildings of varying shapes and sizes dotted around comes with its drawbacks. The market garden spans two long, narrow fields, meaning a lot of time walking to and from base. Unlike typical London gardens, our soil is free draining sandy clay loam with a lot of flinty pebbles, which is both a blessing and a curse. It gives us flexibility with cultivation and means we can get away with doing things over winter that some growers can’t. On the flipside, it means we really struggle for water, especially now that our bore hole recently broke which has been a huge challenge during the recent hot weather, and is likely to get harder as climate change intensifies.
We employ careful use of machinery to minimise soil damage, incorporating shallow cultivation, crop residue, and extensive green manuring for fertility. This approach often eliminates the need for additional compost, a practice monitored through regular soil health testing, often conducted as part of student projects.
Personal Reflections from a new-entrant grower
On a more personal level, something I am struggling with as a younger grower is the reality that I will soon have to choose between doing this work and financial stability.
I love this work so much and believe that small-scale food production in urban / semi urban areas is the most important job there is, now more than ever. But at the same time, living in London is unaffordable and it makes planning for the future really hard. I wish we lived in a world in which jobs that ensure people have access to healthy, affordable, nutritious food were rewarded, rather than those that are responsible for the destruction of nature and negatively affecting people's health and wellbeing.
Additionally, the lack of women’s workwear and equipment designed with only men in mind provides daily frustrations. So many companies only make them for men, or if they do make them, it’ll only be available in a few sizes which don’t fit. It just feels so obvious, but small things like this can make a job that’s already demanding unnecessarily harder.
A call for policy change
Our head grower, Matthew Robinson, emphasises the need for policy change. Rather than grants, he advocates for penalising non-organic farming practices in which the ‘polluter pays’, shifting the burden of proof and cost away from organic farmers.
We align with Ian Tolhurst's belief that organic farming is the true regenerative system and deserve recognition and support for our sustainable practices.
We hope the community will recognise the value of our produce, distinct from even organic supermarket offerings. Knowing where your food comes from and seeing it grow—or participating in its cultivation through volunteering—adds intrinsic value.
The best way to support Forty Hall Farm is by purchasing our produce. Whether through our flexible veg bag scheme, our on-site farm shop, or our monthly farmers' market, your support helps sustain our efforts in providing healthy, organic produce to the community. If you’d volunteer with us, email fortyhallfarm@capel.ac.uk
Forty Hall Farm is part of the Better Food Traders network, who are members of the Sustain Alliance.
The Sustainable Farming Campaign is working to provide better policy and market conditions for agroecological farms like Forty Hall Farm. Find out more.
