About

We are Peter & Juliet.

Juliet came to live in Suffolk in1986 having grown up in Bristol and Kenya. Peter moved ever eastwards; having grown up in Northamptonshire he then lived in Cambridge for many years before ending up in Suffolk in 2005. We both share a love of being out of doors, enjoying wild places and nature. We are keen to encourage other people to do the same.

We bought the 4 acre field, labelled Tiggins Meadow by the estate agent, in 2008. We were looking for a piece of land to create a private nature reserve as an antidote to living and working in a town at desk-bound jobs. At the time our sons were teens and so we were keen they should have somewhere to enjoy having space and be physically active.

The field had been in use as an arable crop field until it was sold by Hall Farm in 2004 along with the neighbouring two fields. All three were purchased by the same couple who subsequently planted two of them with a woodland which they named Mabel’s Wood for the relative who left a legacy bequest for it. They then sold on Tiggins Meadow which was bought by a man from Leiston. He placed the mobile home caravan on the field and proceeded to deal (licenced) in agricultural waste in a manner which upset many local residents who complained to the Council. Whether it was that which caused him to sell up we’ll never know, but it was our luck that he did ! He had kept a couple of ponies on the field, but other than that, it was pretty bare. These pictures below shows it in August 2008 when we purchased it and almost the same view in 2018 with all the willows, trees and bramble thickets growing fast and obscuring the view to the top of the field. The caravan is still there but no longer visible even close up.

Our boys had a lot of fun as teens camping with friends, learning to use tools, cooking on campfires and building things.

Building the Willow Shelter using a reciprocal frame design.
Collecting deadwood for the campfire.

Tiggins Meadow has also been important for young Sam who we provided respite care to as he struggled to live with severe autism.

  • Playing with stones.
  • Apple bobbing.
  • Nuts !
  • Enjoying a ride.
  • Want to throw frisbee?
  • Playtime.

Tiggins Meadow has also been a great place to meet up with friends and family, particularly during the Covid19 pandemic when we couldn’t meet people indoors.

There is more detail of the development of Tiggins Meadow since our start in 2008 in our Blog , but a brief timeline is:

Over the years we’ve enjoyed seeing increasingly abundant wildlife and vegetation, increasing visits by locals and people from further afield and more interest in what we are working to achieve.