Our Story

Families are a unique tapestry of stories and there are a few threads on our timeline which bring us to our way of life at The Mulberry Bush. The field in Sarratt was bought in 1990 for Dad to develop his farming business - the family was especially excited by its potential for Woodcraft Camps and Youth activities and in the first summer Mum and Dad opened the space to Watford Woodcraft Folk hosting an exchange camp with a youth group from Watford’s twin town, Novgorod. Since then, it’s been a favourite location for other Woodcraft Folk groups in the Southeast. Mum, whose career was in childcare services, was the main advocate for the farm to offer Woodcraft, and other children’s groups, the chance to get close to nature and enjoy the outdoor opportunities in this beautiful location. Continuing the connection, my brother & I have been group leaders with the local Woodcraft Folk group for over 10 years and particularly enjoyed facilitating the outdoor activities for group. From growing vegetables in glass houses and teaching at a local agricultural college Dad went on to establish the Mulberry Bush site as a free-range poultry farm, always welcoming visits from locals as well as regulars at the Farmers Markets. He especially enjoyed the relationships with customers and the cycle of ‘farm to fork/ farmer to family’. It was a busy time for the farm and for many years my sister helped Dad run the stands at the London Farmer’s Markets. The farm flourished for over 25 years with increasing numbers of Farmer’s Markets being set up for the eggs and poultry sales and then with the addition of Street Food stalls. Due to Brexit and Covid many small farm businesses in the UK were affected to the point of no return and ‘diversification’ became the way through to a healthy business plan. Poultry keeping at The Mulberry Bush ceased in 2020. The horticultural work continued however, and from 2024 vegetable and salad crops have been grown by a new team of green fingered land lovers – MarKate - who are also inspired by the ‘farm to fork / local food’ movement and are instrumental in connecting local producers and consumers. We are so proud to have MarKate at The Mulberry Bush and that they have become an integral part of our journey towards diversification. In 2021 we welcomed a Home Ed group to use of The Croft, bringing more child and community-orientated activities with ‘forest school’ type values and building on our 30 years of Woodcraft Folk experience of providing a nature space for children to enjoy. In the summer of 2022, we hosted our first wellbeing event at Mulberry Croft, which has become an annual workshop and inspired several other wellbeing groups to share the space as well. Having established my professional life as a health practitioner I am particularly excited by the recent addition of the treatment room at The Stables. I hope that many more therapeutic connections and experiences will be supported by the natural surroundings here. The newest activity at The Mulberry Bush has been a folk festival – Music in the Dell. We are hoping that will be back again this year with more friends, families and creative connections. If you would like to find out more about activities at The Mulberry Bush or have an idea of a wellbeing or nature-based event of your own, please contact us here. Enabling outdoor activities in Nature, learning and creating together is a core family value which inspires us all at The Mulberry Bush. Chloe Henaghan. Feb 2026