Treasured Islands - EADT Suffolk Magazine feature
Well respected regional glossy, EADT Suffolk Magazine covered South Elmham Hall and its owners in its April 2018 issue. The article as published is included (see pdf) with kind permission of the Magazine's editor.
This is what feature writer, Lindsay Want, wrote following her visit mid wedding season:
“With you in a moment,” calls a cheery voice from far across the courtyard and somewhere up a ladder. “Feel free to have a wander,” it adds as a friendly after-thought. Then with intent to reassure comes an even cheerier: “Won’t be long!”
Out by the great moat on the four-acre, South Elmham island that’s hidden away in The Saints somewhere not so far from Bungay, the big blue-sky day has no clouds to stop the sun from playing on the wide waters. Just the gentlest intermittent breath of breeze sends insects scudding across the surface towards emerald lily-pads, and makes the broad leaves of towering beeches over in the time-honoured grove dance and dapple the grassy pathway below. In the distance, white flecks and flinty greys of ruined walls chance to peep between the tree-trunks, trying perhaps to catch sight of the rare pairs of turtle doves which soothe the warm summer air with a contented turr-turr. Sounds of a lowing herd, winding slowly o’er some distant clover ley, drift across the ancient island acres. And by the little bridge, the tiniest Kingfisher flash of bright amber and iridescent turquoise colours the world even more timelessly beautiful.
Timeless indeed. It’s hard to say how long the moment lasts. Just a few seconds? A minute maybe? Five perhaps? Ten even? Little matter - it could so easily equate to milli-seconds or a whole life time. For spaces that let you get so immediately and intimately lost in the moment are rare. And rarer still the attendant realisation that the moment itself, however it is defined, has a place all of its own in the ancient and eternal landscapes of history.
“That’s got the bunting sorted,” beams Nicole, bumping the world back to a different sort of 21st century reality. “Excuse the clothes, will you – I’ve been mowing lawns, herding hens and who knows what this morning. We’re mid-harvest, so there are lots of extra things to keep an eye on.” Right on cue, a tractor sways into sight beyond the moat, its trailer piled high with hay - confirmation that harvest is in full swing perhaps, yet hardly a reason to put the flags out surely? “Oh, we’ve a wedding in the medieval barn and courtyard tomorrow,” adds Nicole calmly, going on to explain in a matter of fact, yet truly caring sort of way, how they’ll also be sharing their mellow farmhouse home - the Grade I listed, former bishop’s palace - with the happy couple and handful of entourage, “just to make their life simpler”.
Amidst the hubbub of harvest, what makes life easy for some, must undoubtedly create more work for others. Here though, it’s all just water off a contented farm duck’s back. Curious perhaps, but then this is a place with a real tradition of warm hospitality that stretches out across the centuries, a place that has survived almost intact through a special sort of give and take, one that’s made to share, asking only to be cherished in return.
Long-standing legacies
The offer of a quick cuppa leads past ‘primeval’ fire pit and ancient grove, detouring briefly to sneak a peek at the secret garden and Bishop Henry Despenser’s ruined 14th century gatehouse with its homemade St Cross bricks, before finally entering the big blue door to South Elmham Hall. In the huge space that is the farmhouse kitchen, John – the third generation of Sandersons to love, care for and farm South Elmham’s historic lands - has already got the kettle on. The gentle, telepathic custodian beams a most heart-felt welcome; excuses himself whilst he climbs out of the morning’s blue overalls, then with words balancing great knowledge with genuine enthusiasm, leads the way under smooth stone arches, past hewn fireplaces to share delicate traces of medieval wall-paintings whilst the tea is brewing.
And so South Elmham slowly reveals its true colours as its stories unravel, just like the green, mustard and deep ochres of the intertwining branches painted here more than seven centuries ago. An ancient episcopal estate, the 7th century Bishop’s ‘See’ or court of Elmham was favoured by Herbert de Losinga, the Norman Bishop of East Anglia who founded Norwich Cathedral in 1100 and had a particular soft spot for hunting. “South Elmham became a ‘des-res’ at the heart of a deer park,” explains John. “A Great Hall in which to hold court was built, with chambers and a private chapel for the bishop. Maybe as the palace took shape in the 13th century, painters and decorators working on Norwich Cathedral had a bus-man’s holiday here, “he smiles. “There are certainly striking similarities in the decorative style. Experts date them to 1270 – that’s probably the earliest domestic wall-paintings in these parts.”
Hedging its bets
“In these parts…” John’s choice of words lingers. Interestingly deliberate, yet definitely vague. Neither coming down on the side of Suffolk or Norfolk. But then history knows no boundaries and time cares little for labels. By today’s map, the South Elmham estate lies firmly in Suffolk, but follow things to the letter – tap its postcode into the sat-nav, look at its Harleston address – and you’d be sure it was in Norfolk. Tie the knot here in this idyllic spot and you’ve effectively got married in two places at once. Hmmm, curious. But then this is a very individual sort of place. Where it is - well, that’s of relatively little consequence perhaps. What surely matters more is that it’s still very much where it has always been.
Fortified by tea over tales of crenelations granted to Bishop Despenser for quashing the local Peasant’s Revolt, it’s time to take history in our stride and head out over water-meadows, past pockets of wood pasture, across swathes which have somehow dodged the ploughs of ‘progress’. “Here, the hedge-lines show where the deer park was divided,“ points out John. “Some of the old parkland was dug over in 1940, but much has never seen the plough. It’s been the farm it is today since the 1920s when the Adair family sold up the estate, but my family were tenant farmers here before that, from 1906.” He pauses, losing himself in the landscape a moment - another moment that might be milli-seconds or a whole life time. His organic British white cattle, once a favourite with religious orders, are undoubtedly so very at home here, just like the flocks of goldfinches, the roe deer, Ragged Robin and King Cups, hares and hawks. Perhaps the natural world has changed little since Edward II visited in 1326 or the Abbess of Flixton chastised the resident bishop of 1350 for his hunting parties which trampled her precious gardens.
Caring for the community at every level
By the high historic hedgerow, Nicole is losing herself too - amidst the tall pennants of colourful wildflowers as she hunts out how the honeysuckle and wild hops are doing. It wouldn’t be the first time if she found herself here again in the morning, gathering armfuls with one of the happy-couple-to-be to secure a few last-minute arrangements of the floral kind - more jobs somehow squeezed unconditionally into her day. “It’s good to keep ahead of the game,” she grins, as if she just knew that the posse of English partridges was seconds away from scuttling out just along the field margin. John takes the cue too, talking about the farm’s recent involvement in a pilot scheme for Results-based Biodiversity Achievements in Agriculture run by Natural England. He had to buy a suit to share his experiences at a conference in Brussels, but tiny South Elmham was somehow at ease playing a role in the bigger picture.
By the long-promised collection of ancient coppiced hornbeams, there’s talk of new woodlands and hedges, barn owl and bat boxes, ponds restored and wildflowers planted to nurture birds, bees and butterflies. “Part of our income from weddings always goes towards our conservation projects. That’s so important to us,“ explains Nicole. “It all dovetails in, “she adds, going on to confirm how the sensitive restoration of the 1270 barn over a decade ago, not only keeps the beautiful building in use, but allows the site as a whole to share and be shared in so many ways.
“All weddings at Bateman’s Barn are green, not just because this is a working organic farm where diversification is key. It’s not us being prescriptive, but just the way we operate, because it’s what we believe in. We love local and source everything we can from as close to home as possible, encouraging low food miles, engaging with local businesses and developing a productive, collborative network of cross-promotion through our Waveney Weddings Collective. Also although our couples and their guests often come from further afield, there’s usually some local connection in the mix somewhere.”
And with that and a few steps further, the trees part to reveal a second treasured isle – a strange fortified enclosure at whose heart rests the enigmatic ruins known as South Elmham Minster. It’s a mysterious place which has pulled in countless generations of pilgrims from far and wide, the legendary home perhaps of East Anglia’s original Saxon cathedral. Little matter that the walls are 11th century – this is a place where history is a feeling, a place which puts tiny South Elmham in the biggest picture.
It’s the first and last piece of the puzzle in a wonderfully unique Waveney Valley spot where past and sustainable future go hand in hand; where a moment can last both milli-seconds and a whole life-time and where belonging together simply means so much more.
Fancy visiting South Elmham’s secret islands?
John and Nicole offer exclusive tours including a guided walk to the Minster ruins via the Suffolk Historic Houses ‘Invitation to View’ scheme (2019 dates: ailable soon), a regular programme of pre-book or ‘pop-in’ house only tours (Thursday afternoons April 1st - 30th Sept / £10) and also welcome pre-booked groups. For full details / how to book visit www.southelmham.co.uk / 01986 782526
Read the slightly abbreviated article in EADT Suffolk Magazine here »
