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Story, video and photos by Reb Stevenson
Like Anne of Green Gables, I am deposited at a remote train station with my bag, a forlorn look and no clue as to who will be meeting me.
I’m on an island, but not Prince Edward’s. This is England – Suffolk, to be precise.
My first week of wwoofing is to take place at Old Hall, which I chose because it had a cool name (although one must exercise caution when using this method, as “Hades” is also a rather fun moniker).
Old Hall is an “intentional community farm,” a title which might be interchanged with a word that conjures barefoot idealists: commune. Founded in 1974, Old Hall currently consists of 40 adults and 13 children ranging from ages two to 88.
As a city dweller, I come armed with a few preconceived notions of what to expect at a commune: tie dye, acoustic guitars and free love. Random acts of nudity, possibly.
So I am a little taken aback when David Hodgson, Old Hall’s wwoof coordinator, is, well…a regular guy.
As for the other residents they’re, well…regular people. They live in private apartments, congregate for meals twice a day and pitch in at least 15 hours per week with farm labour.
We round the corner and a decayed but grand English manor greets us.
“That’s it?” I exclaim. I had signed up to break fingernails and shovel manure, not to prance around in a Jane Austen novel. But I was more than happy to accommodate the latter.
“Did you know that John Constable painted it?” Hodgson asks.
He informs me that the celebrated 19th century landscape artist grew up across the street. In fact, the region is known as “Constable Country.”
But Old Hall itself predates Constable: listed in the Domesday book, it was a private dwelling, a convent and a Franciscan friary before the present crew moved in.
The cheery, yellow kitchen is the epicentre of Old Hall life. For starters, it is perpetually endowed with the scent of fresh-baked bread. And at mealtime, out comes a vibrant spread that features home-sourced goodies like beets, soups, pizza, baked apples with pouring cream, beef stew, mutton and cheeses (admittedly, the mutton challenges my enthusiasm).
And, while I may be putting on pounds, the beauty is I’m not spending any.
The next day, I earn my keep. At 9:30am, I don the wellies and head into the fields with two other wwoofers: Karen (American) and Niels (German). We weed, drink tea, hack down some old corn stalks with a machete, drink more tea and have lunch on the front lawn. In the afternoon, we repeat.
My cohorts depart the next day, making me a lone wwoofer. But the residents of Old Hall gladly spend time with me as I pick apples and beets, sort potatoes and shell beans.
Another day, I set my sights on Colchester. On the way to the station, I spy a swarm of men waving metal detectors over a freshly-ploughed field.
“Any luck?” I holler, thinking: “wow, what a geek squad.”
“Yeah! I found a Roman coin!” is the answer. And it comes in a distinctively American accent.
Reid Geisler, a salesman from Phoenix, tells me he’s here on a bona fide “metal detecting holiday.”
“Once you come over here and do it once, you’re hooked,” he says, also displaying an unidentified silver coin and a merchant token from the 16th century.
I walk away thinking: “wow, what a cool guy.”
Old Hall proves to be the perfect springboard for my travels: there are plenty of attractions within striking distance, and the community has the right attitude about wwoofing.
“We don’t treat them like servants, we treat them like human beings. We give them time off and they become part of the place while they’re here,” explains John Gamlin, a founding member.
Indeed, it is not the scenery, nor the inspiring edifice or the tea that I feel sorry to leave: it’s the smiling faces of the people who have been so willing to share their food, their home and their lives.
On my last night at Old Hall, I casually mention that my room is a wee bit frigid. Word gets around. And when I head up to bed, I find an extra heater, a heap of blankets and a hot water bottle waiting.
Now that’s warmth.
Reb Stevenson is a Toronto-based freelancer writer and photographer who wwoofed in the UK for three weeks. Next week, she visits Nottingham.
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Old Hall is located in East Bergholt, Suffolk, between the cities of Colchester and Ipswich: www.oldhall.org.uk ,
Constable Country: www.constablecountry.co.uk
Metal Detecting Holidays: www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk
READ MORE:
INTRO: Wwhat in the Wworld is Wwoofing?
WEEK 2: Wwoofing and Goofing Around (Nottinghamshire)
WEEK 3: Green, Mossy and Goaty (Cumbria)