The Farm

Foxes Farm is run by Guy and Emily French, but farming here goes back much further than either of us.

The land at Eight Ash Green has been in the family for more than 100 years, and whatever else we're diversifying into to keep the farm moving forward, we are farmers at heart. Here on the land on this farm is where it all began, and where our own family has grown up too.

Growing crops is at the heart of what we do and is will always be a part of what we do. Alongside everything else happening at Foxes Farm, we are proud arable farmers, growing wheat, barley, rye and maize on the land here at Eight Ash Green.

For 18 years we also grew pumpkins, right up until 2025, and that chapter brought thousands of families onto the farm every autumn for Essex's first Pick Your Own Pumpkin Patch. It was a brilliant part of our story, but farming has always meant moving with the seasons and looking at what comes next.

In total we now farm around 500 acres across three sites. As well as our home farm here at Eight Ash Green, we farm around 250 acres on the edge of London in Upminster, and we have a smaller farm at Colne Engaine, near Halstead. Different soils and different journeys, but all part of the same family business.

We've raised our own family on this farm, and that's shaped the way we think about it - not just land to be farmed, but somewhere to build a life. It's also why we've always been dynamic and entrepreneurial, looking for new ways to diversify and make the most of what the farm has to offer, from pumpkins and arable crops to pickleball, a private PT studio and dog walking fields. Farming is in our blood, and so is the drive to keep building something new on top of it.