“You can feel the history in this house and its warmth wraps itself around you.
You want to be part of its story.
We’ve never felt anything but welcome and protected at Wood Farm.”

Built as a farmhouse and belonging at one point to the nearby Helmingham Hall Estate, Wood Farm on Ipswich Road (not the one on Helmingham Road) in Otley, Suffolk, was built in 1580 then extended in 1870. For many years, it was an arable and dairy farm but it was sold off in 1982 and has been home to just two families since then.

Turning into the drive, most people realise immediately that they’re coming to somewhere special. However, walk around the building to the ‘back’ and jaws tend to drop.

“Wow!” is usually the first word uttered by visitors.

The half-Tudor half-Victorian building overlooks a beautiful wild pond and a formal garden flanked by beech hedging on two sides and with a handsome oak tree just behind it. Wooden decking divides the two areas and leads you ahead to the orchard which is full of apple trees (eaters and cookers), pear, quince, plum, greengage, mulberry and cherry trees, as well as a very handsome marsh cypress tree. From the orchard, a five-bar gate leads to the 3-acre meadow where there is a third pond and even a recently planted tree circle.

Three particularly special things about Wood Farm

• One of the many things that makes Wood Farm so special is that it’s very rural yet also very close to towns. Despite being just 20 mins drive from Ipswich and Woodbridge, it is on a quiet lane in a beautiful rural area of east Suffolk, and you feel like you’re in your own little world of calm and beauty – which you are! You have your own space.
  This is a region of rolling arable fields (contrary to popular opinion it’s not dead flat here!), copses and small woods and meadows. It’s gentle, it’s one of England’s driest and warmest places, it’s got an incredible coastline, quaint villages, and yet is only an hour+ from London.

• The other thing that we have always loved about living here is the combination of Tudor and Victorian architecture. You get the best of both worlds in that you have the cottage feel of the Tudor farmhouse with oak beams, but you’ve also got the loftier ceilings and big sash windows of the Victorian side. Cosy quaintness or a dash more elegance depending on your mood!

• The third (but definitely not the last) reason we fell in love with Wood Farm, is the wildlife that visits the garden on a daily basis, and the trees on the land – including two gorgeous oak trees in the garden and more in the meadow, a handsome beech tree, a tulip tree, the apple and other fruit trees, the poplars and ash trees . . . the list goes on.

“It’s the best house in Suffolk!“

(said L, who grew up here from age 4)

The farmhouse and its various outbuildings and ponds stand in two acres of garden. It’s mostly grass and trees to keep maintenance manageable and provide good habitat for wildlife but there is a formal flower garden by the house.

There is also a three acre field accessible from the house grounds or via a separate gated entrance from the road. We have a large vegetable garden that was our pride and joy for many years. We’ve sadly recently had to leave it to its own devices for health reasons but the structure is there so it wouldn’t take much bringing back. The fruit cage has gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, raspberries and strawberries, all overlooked by a stunning tulip tree.

There are two large ponds near the house. One on the right as you drive in, and the one nearest to the house which would have been dug to provide the clay for the house walls when it was first built. We dredged this pond in 2007 and left it to flourish as a wild pond (other than adding some waterlillies). The flag irises are beautiful, and we love watching the resident moorhens and ducks here. Dragonflies and damselflies always give us a great show every year.

“Our approach to Wood Farm land has been to
allow nature to breathe and us to enjoy this glorious piece of Suffolk
that we’re privileged to live in.“