Southwold Maize Maze creator upbeat about summer visitors

Launched in 2005, her elaborate annual designs take shape at a breath-taking salt marsh site at Reydon, near Southwold - which was once used as grazing land for the family's dairy herd.

Southwold Maize Maze lies next to the town's Hen Reedbeds nature reserve - run by Suffolk Wildlife Trust - with spectacular views down to the River Blyth.

Permissive walks run down through the farm to the river wall, which lead via public footpath networks to the town itself.

Bella started the maze as a small-scale diversification from the family's farming operation and added a simple food truck. Meanwhile, third generation farmer husband David ran - and still runs - a 1100-acre arable operation at Metfield. 

The business grew and the Halls decided to invest in a large café on the site of the old calf sheds taking in the sweeping views down to the river.

The family initially took on the 400-acre Old Hall Farm at Reydon to graze its dairy herd - as at that time it was a mixed arable and livestock business.

"My father-in-law took up the tenancy here because he had several herds of cows and not enough grazing so he took in on for the grazing and the marshes in the late 1980s or early 1990s. At the time, Southwold wasn't the touristy destination it is today," explains Bella.

"It was quite unusual at the time to be a dairy farmer in this area - there aren't very many."

The family became owners of the farm in 1996 - a year after David and Bella were married - after they were given the opportunity to buy it.

But in 2016, the family - a partnership also involving David's parents Andrew and his late wife Janet - took the difficult decision to sell the herd.

"I think it was just the economic climate at the time," Bella explains. Milk prices were low, and they had the extra costs involved in running a split site.

The sale helped fund the expansion of the maze diversification through the creation of the café.

Other family attractions have also sprung up around the site, including a pizza kitchen and a play area and Bella has assembled a "great team". David grows a pumpkin patch to provide an autumn attraction for families. The large 25m by 20m cow shed is now a beautiful space which is rented out for a variety of events, such as antiques fairs and a makers' market.

Bella was inspired to start the maze after seeing other successful ventures. "I saw others doing it and thought we are on a really good spot here," she explains.

Southwold itself was becoming more of a draw to visitors beyond locals like herself who had been coming for years.

"People were discovering Southwold and we thought it would be a fun thing to do and I guess I wanted to make it educational as well as fun - being a teacher - because it's an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty here," she says.

"I wanted it to have a feel of natural environment encouraging youngsters to enjoy being outside and playing."

When the dairy herd went in 2016 they were left with a range of large, redundant farm buildings.

"We just thought: 'What are we going to do?' It's a beautiful farm here, it's a lovely spot and we wanted to be able to share it with people and enjoy being outside and getting the most out of the area."

The café - designed by Peter Wells Architects of Wickham Market  - was opened in 2019 - the year before the pandemic.

"We were originally intending it to be a much smaller thing but then we just went for it and thought we should make the most of the views," says Bella.

The project was all self-funded. The fields are in a higher-level stewardship scheme with pollen and nectar mixes and bird seed mixes to attract a range of wildlife.

"We work with Natural England and Suffolk Wildlife Trust to create a series of scrapes down on the marshes which have been great for the wildlife."

Birdlife includes oyster catchers, little egrets, avocets and curlews. Bitterns visit from the Hen Reedbed.

The theme for this year's maze is the osprey - a frequent visitor to the site. It's the 19th design - all of which are inspired by the local area. Other themes have included insects, sea creatures - and even the Battle of Sole Bay.

Although the maze attraction is paid-for, parking is free. "Obviously we hope people will visit the cafe and visit the maize in the summer."

The business is well supported by the local community, says Bella, and they love walking up from Southwold and Reydon. The Halls rent out some of their grazing land to a beef farmer so cattle can still be found at the site.

"We are farmers at the end of the day. So we are a family business but we want people to embrace nature and we want to promote the beautiful area we live in and encourage people to work and give people opportunities to do that."

As well as the attractions, there is also accommodation on site. The farmhouse has been split in three with two shorthold lease homes and one holiday cottage. Other buildings are rented out, with tenants including a cycle hire company.

"It was a real leap of faith but I think on the whole it has been a really positive thing. It's an amazing thing to have people here enjoying something you have created and that you hope they will enjoy. It's hard work but compared to dairy farming which is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year it's more manageable in some respects," she says.

The gamble has paid off. The diversification now makes up about overall half the turnover of the business and employs many more than when it was a dairy farm, with a permanent workforce of about a dozen permanent, supplemented by a dozen seasonal workers in the summer.

Getting through the pandemic was a challenge - although it led to a better, more automated and streamlined system - but they were rewarded in 2021 with a good season.

In 2022 - when there was a prolonged heatwave - it was harder going as it led to less visitor activity in the area overall - as the sweltering temperatures meant people went to the beach  - or with restrictions lifted, abroad.

This year, the 10-acre maize field - around 8ft tall in places - is looking "amazing", says Bella, and she is optimistic it will be a good year.

"This season the crop has grown, people are caring about where they spend their money and we are still a reasonably prices activity where people can spend a day and children are entertained. They can have a great day out," she says.

The maze was precision-drilled using Greenstar satellite technology with the help of Carl Pitelen from Ben Burgess who helped to set it up on the drill.

Dickie Barnes contractors did the drilling, working to a design created by Mazescape in conjunction with Bella.

"It's a special place to come and people have really taken it under their wing and they support us, I think, because we are reasonable and we are genuine in wanting to provide something and we provide good service and good food," says Bella.

The maze will be open from the start of the school holidays on July 22.