The Suffolk Flora Preservation Trust
owns and manages two private reserves in Suffolk:
Simpson’s Fromus Valley in Kelsale, and Orchid Glade in Hasketon.

The Trust members are Guardians of this heritage.
Please join, and help to preserve these special sites, and enhance the diversity of flora and fauna in East Suffolk for many years to come.

Simpson’s Fromus Valley
Main Road, Kelsale, Saxmundham

 ⚘⚘

Orchid Glade
Boulge Road, Hasketon, Woodbridge

View/download a visitors' map of the Reserve here.     You can view/download a visitors' map of the Reserve here.
     

Simpson’s Fromus Valley preserves a collection of Mediaeval meadows, veteran trees and a monumental earthwork, once the dam that held up a huge lake in the 12th and 13th Centuries.  The river Fromus, flowing through the wooded gully out into the lower meadows, in a winterbourne — a raging torrent in wet winter weather, and a clear, blithe trickle in summer days. 

The floristically rich pasture is managed by grazing by the rare breed British White cattle.

 

Read about the natural history of the Valley here.


Read the exciting medieval history of it here.

     

The four-hectare Glade is surrounded by a belt of dense woodland, planted in former plough-land in 1996.  A shady path circles the wooded margin, opening into the Glade at either end.  This reserve is managed by its wildlife, with essential help from people and machinery.  Fallow deer and muntjac live here and, with rabbits and hares, their grazing is the most important factor maintaining a rich Suffolk clay-land flora.  In early summer, scarce flowering twayblade and southern marsh orchids justify the name of this small reserve.  It really comes into its own in August, when the sea of golden fleabane and other late-summer flowers attract a rich mix of butterflies and pollenating insects.

Read about the recent history of Orchard Glade here.

Directions to both our Reserves appear on our «Open Days» page.
 
If you would like to take "A Seasonal Journey through our Reserves" via YouTube, please visit our Visuals page.

 

ACCESS TO THE RESERVES

☞   To provide protection to sensitive flora, the gates to both reserves are normally locked and closed to unauthorised visitors.
Each site is open two or three mornings a year, when members of the public are welcome.  Visit our Open Days page for more information.
Guardians (members), however, can visit at all reasonable times.