Our Story

The story of Norfolk Blueberries begins in the mid-1990s when, following a visit to the USA, the Knights family of Fairgreen Farm, realised that they had both suitably acidic soils and climate for growing blueberries in the UK. Over the next decade, they built a Pick Your Own business whilst also supplying the retail trade.

In 2019, West Acre Farms were approached by a customer who wanted to freeze blueberries in the UK for the processing trade. Consequently, 10 hectares of blueberry bushes were established using peat and a trickle irrigation system. At the same time, the Houghton Estate established three hectares of blueberry bushes (which West Acre Farms now manages. All farms are Red Tractor Assured, which means they’re independently audited to achieve a recognised standard).

Shortly after this, West Acre Farms was asked by the Knights family to take over the management of the crop at Fairgreen.

The first harvest at West Acre Farms occurred in 2021, supplying the retail trade. In the autumn of 2021, a further nine hectares were planted at West Acre, this time using spent coir rather than peat as. growing medium. The coir was sourced from strawberry growers who had used it once to grow their own crop.

At Fairgreen Farm, the soil is very fertile, requiring minimal use of fertiliser. At West Acre and Houghton, the alkaline nature of the soil means that we need to add acidifying fertiliser to the irrigation water, and the crop is irrigated almost daily during the growing period. Crop protection is carried out as and when necessary; there is a small use of insecticides (some are necessary to protect the crop from fruit flies). We control weeds utilising a combination of herbicides, mechanical weeders, and through hand weeding.

Pruning runs from December to March, the aim of which is to remove old wood and shape the bushes. In practice, this means that most branches are three years old or less. We use crop supports to stop the branches from drooping and to make harvesting and PYO easier. The alleys between the bushes are sown with grasses and herbs to encourage beneficial insects (you’ll notice at PYO that there are little red flasks hanging on occasional bushes - these are to monitor fruit flies).

We use honey bees (from two local beekeepers) and bumble bees for pollination. The hives are introduced in March until flowering finishes in May (you may see some platforms, which are there to protect the bumble bees from badgers, who would raid the hives given the chance!).

There is a permanent staff of four on the blueberry enterprise, and we employ up to 30 more when hand-harvesting is in full swing. The majority of the crop is hand-picked, but were looking to mechanise this operation in the future to reduce reliance on casual labour and to reduce costs.

The picking season runs from early July until early September and, in total across all locations, we grow 14 different varieties: Aurora, Blue Crop, Blue Gold, Cargo, Draper, Duke, Last Call, Legacy, Liberty, Nelson, Top Shelf, Toro and Valor. Each variety has its own size and taste characteristics; for example, Legacy is sweet, Top Shelf and Valor are plump. Blue Crop always remains a firm favourite.

In 2025, we hope to harvest approaching 200 tonnes of blueberries, supplying supermarkets, farm shops and greengrocers. The berries are picked and cooled immediately and delivered to pack houses within 48 hours.

We aim to be as sustainable as possible. The harvester we are looking to use from 2025 will be solar powered, and the cold stores at the farms are already solar powered. At the Fairgreen Farm PYO we encourage visitors to bring their own containers, and we are looking into alternatives to plastic punnets.

All our products are made from 100% blueberries with no additives - our juice comes in recycled glass bottles, and our powder and dried products are packaged in compostable pouches.

Ultimately, our goal is to help replace the quantity of imported blueberries that we see in the UK (with all the food miles that they incur) by providing quality home-grown berries with know provenance during our domestic harvest season.

Picking your own berries in the open air, whilst enjoying the beautiful Norfolk countryside is a great way for all the family to spend quality time together, with the additional benefits of a healthy superfood to be be enjoyed at home!