Hundreds upon hundreds of local families flocked to Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse earlier this month to remember, together, traditions and knowledge once shared in abundance over Norfolk’s fences and hedgerows.
Heritage Open Days, held each September across the UK, invite us to rediscover hidden local histories and stories passed down from our ancestors. Adding to all Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse has to offer – celebrating the county’s rich agricultural heritage with artefacts from years gone by and treasured rare breeds to be petted – attendees journeyed through another story of reclaimed heritage: one from the We Feed The UK collection.
Norfolk shares its long history of natural fibre production, across many miles of land and sea, with Northern Ireland. On Mallon Farm in County Tyrone, Helen Keys and Charlie Mallon are once again growing flax for linen. The “wee blue blossoms” are part of a patchwork of potatoes, grass and oats; sown with a fiddle, grown chemical-free, gathered by hand, retted in rainwater, scutched on a restored turbine, and threaded into newly resurrected local supply chains. Photographer Yvette Monahan and Hot Poet Abby Oliveira spent a season documenting the revival of nature-friendly flax for fibre, and the close-knit communities, human and more-than-human, that have sprouted alongside.
I’m really blown away by Yvette Monahan’s work here. It’s incredible.
Noel, event attendee
Displayed on the farm, the exhibition beautifully echoes the work happening on the land in Norfolk. Four years ago, Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse’s Juliet Boyce began growing flax once again in East Anglia’s soils; bringing the region’s heritage out from behind glass cabinets, from between yellowed pages, to become a piece of living history.
There is a force there, there is real interest, there is enthusiasm and we just need to harness that.
Juliet, event attendee
While looking to our past is part of the wonderful ritual of remembering our ancestors, culture, and identity, it can also hold many answers for the future. Both Mallon Farm and the Flax and Fleece Project are returning to natural fibre production for reasons beyond heritage alone. Flax grows brilliantly, copes with the increasingly unpredictable conditions of our isles, requires no chemical inputs, fits seamlessly into a rotational food production system, and boasts an endless list of uses that counter their fossil-fuel-derived counterparts. By bringing these two stories together, each can learn from and inform the other, both distinctly rich with the knowledge of their ancestors and the community of skilled and brilliant people they work alongide.
We need to learn, more and more, to look back. We need to look back to look forward.
Paola, event attendee
New connections and collaborations reached beyond the growers themselves. Local allotmenteers, artists, families, and researchers shared their awe, and their own stories, at the Meet the Artist and Farmers drop-in in the exhibition space, before flowing into the chapel for our Natural Fibres panel discussion to hear from Helen, Charlie, and Juliet, joined by Nick Evans of Fantasy Fibre Mill and local linen artist Max Mosscrop. The brilliant conversation that unfolded spoke to the importance of regrowing natural fibres, and with them more community ownership of locally grounded supply chains, and forms part of our ongoing Regenerative Conversation series.
To do things slowly and to do things as a community, it supports us, as individuals within the places that we live.
Lucy, event attendee
It was a joy to see so many people engaging with the often overlooked link between our heritage and our pathway to a flourishing and resilient future. The exhibition is open at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse until 1 November 2026.
