Woodlands Farm is a fragment of London's old countryside that offers a unique opportunity to conserve heritage landscape and promote biodiversity.
At heart this is a conservation and development project.
The ambitions of The Woodlands Farm Trust are to:
1. build a truly sustainable future through sensitive farming using native stock and working towards a sustainable, harmonious practice, minimising the impact of activities on the environment both local and global.
2. maintain the farm as a community resource, giving volunteers and the community access to education, training, experiences and tasks that they might not otherwise encounter.
3. conserve and improve the biodiversity of our 89 acres.
4. create a sustainable operating and financial structure for the future.
History of the Farm
Woodlands Farm was created from the dense forest called Bushy Lees Wood. The farm was originally 122 acres.
Management of the farm was taken over by the Baldock Family.
The farm was purchased by the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS), farming pigs as well as barley and hay.
The RACS opened an abattoir at the back of the farm near Cloth Workers wood. Woodlands Farm became a ‘model’ pig farm for intensive pig production.
Abattoir closed and although someone still lived on site active farming ceased.
Farm threatened by plans to build the East London River crossing through the farm land and Oxleas Woods. Plans for this were dropped in 1993 due to opposition from local groups including People Against the River Crossing (PARC).
The Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) applied to build houses on the cleared abattoir site. The local community fought to save the land.
The Woodlands Farm Trust was founded, aiming to regenerate the farm leasing the land from CWS on a 999 year lease.
Woodlands Farm Trust has continued to develop, with renovations to buildings, increase in animal stock, development of education at the farm, a new classroom as well as dipping ponds.