Mole End Farm might sound like a location from The Wind and the Willows, but it’s actually home to one of our oldest friends in the organic field. Well, organic orchard to be precise.

Paul and Sara Ward upped sticks and moved to the country in the early 90’s, to a lovely home in the Kentish Wealds. It came complete with four acres of mature, but neglected, conference pear trees. It was in this idyllic setting that the pair were inspired to get into the organic farming business themselves. They spent a few difficult years dealing with the whims of supermarkets before making the decision to supply their brilliant organic apples and pears exclusively to farm shops and box schemes like us!

Since then, they’ve become one of our longest-standing partners. It’s one of the partnerships we’re most proud of for how well they look after their land and the wildlife they share it with.

Paul’s a big lover of pollinators in his orchard as bees especially are crucial to the success of his crops, after all. “We encourage a lot of wild bees, so in some trees we have colonies of wild bees that have lived there for many years," he tells us. "We’ve over 50 beehives over five orchards, so a minimum of 10 hives per orchard that are looked after by a local beekeeper.”