The Thurlow Hunt
There are few details of the early roots of hunting around Thurlow. The area was probably part of the King’s Forest and subject to the Forest Laws first introduced by Canute and greatly extended by the Norman kings from William I onwards. One of the earliest references to hunting was in the reign of Edward […]
Head Keeper on the Thurlow Estate
The shooting season for game always ends on 1 February and that is in a sense the start of the gamekeeper’s new year. He has until the next autumn to manage the rearing of the new generation of pheasants and partridges and replenish the stocks for the next season. The first half of February is […]
Head Forester for Thurlow Woodlands
I came to Thurlow as Head Forester in February 1980, succeeding Mr Archer who had been in the post for 25 years and still lives in Great Thurlow. Work is carried out by a team of five full-time employees who deal with timber extraction, hedge cutting, planting, general maintenance and sawmilling. We also employ subcontractors […]
Land Use and Conservation
The twentieth century has seen huge changes in farming practices and therefore in land management. In the 1920s, when farming was in the doldrums and farmers had to scrape and save every penny they could, many hedges were left untrimmed, fields became dirty with weeds and brambles, cropping was largely with spring-sown crops and stubble […]