The Trelonk Story

Trelonk, which means Long House, or a house of great status which was thought to have been visited by royal guests in centuries past, is a beautiful farm and estate close to the banks of the River Fal.

It is thought that here has always been a farm operating in this location throughout the years and between 1891 and 1907 it was also home to a busy Brickworks, taking advantage of the clay washing down the river and silting up the creek.

The bricks produced were used to build many of the grand houses of Falmouth and Truro but all that remains on this industry now is the tall chimney once used to draw air through the kilns.

Today, Trelonk aims to turn back the clock and bring the soil and environment at Trelonk back to its original glory by harnessing new technologies to improve our farming practices to grow specialist crops.

Our Aims

At Trelonk, our mission is to improve health and well being through a sustainable agricultural enterprise that has a positive effect on the environment.

We aim to positively disrupt entrenched traditions of UK agriculture and to prove that a successful and sustainable farm in inherently linked to the health of the environment. We will utilise agri-tech, precision methods and leading university collaborations, to deliver a regenerative model farm enterprise.

Using livestock to manage our pollinator habitats (such as flower meadows and species-rich permanent pasture) allow us, once again, to diverge from the traditional reliance upon heavy machinery and instead plump for management options more akin to our own ethos of environmental responsibility and ecosystem enhancement.

Our journey is experimental and as part of it we will be collecting new data to provide climate and environmental information to support our development and inform the future of farming in Cornwall. Specifically, we will monitor the environment, soil, climate and crops.

What we are farming

We are farming niche, nutrient dense oil seed crops for the purpose of harvesting their essential oils, through cold pressing. These specialist oils will then be used for nutraceutical and cosmetic applications and they have been chosen according to strict environmental criteria. Our crops will include borage, sunflowers, calendula, camelina, roses & mustard.

Trelonk also cultivates Industrial Hemp Fibre under licence from the Home Office (HO). This fibre is processed and used in renewable construction materials such as Insulation and Hempcrete. The environmental credentials of this crop are second to none in terms of its CO₂ sequestration and positive impact on soil structure.

Our approach to cultivating will be through precision farming, using agri-tech monitoring and techniques designed to have a light earth touch, aiming to improve and protect the natural resources of Trelonk.

By growing and processing on site, we aim to provide full traceability and authenticity of the products, underpinned by regenerative farming methods and strong environmental credentials.

Calendula Oils Now Available for Wholesale Purchase

farming & the environment

Welcome to the future of farming.

Trelonk Farm is located within a variety of different environmental and ecological designations. Bordered on three side by the internationally important Fal ria and surrounded by Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Areas for Conservation (SAC), the obligation to consider the implications of our farming practices on a wider, landscape level is imperative to what we are trying to achieve; a synergy between primary production, environmental regeneration and the provision of habitat for wildlife.

The creation of a model farm enterprise fit to face the 21st century poses some exciting challenges. Balancing primary production of our niche crops with regenerative farming practices that help to restore the farmed environment necessitates the use of agri-technologies.

Agri-tech will allow us to farm more accurately, with greater precision, allowing superior management of our natural resources and ensuring inputs are micro-managed for optimum efficiency.

country stewardship scheme

We are working towards a Mid-Tier stewardship scheme beginning in 2020.

The aim is to deliver significant and accountable ecological gains for the local environment, from the provision of new habitat and sustenance for wildlife to the protection of important water courses and the improvement of air quality.

Here at Trelonk, we have many landscape features that deserve protection and maintenance due to their cultural and historical significance.

The scheme also allows us to preserve and protect our hedgerows, woodland and water courses for generations to come.

Our Wildlife

the trelonk bees

For millennia, bees and other pollinators have busied themselves with the task of ensuring food security and nutrition, as well as maintaining the diverse ecosystems that both plants and animals rely upon for survival. One third of all food produced is dependant (in some way, at least) upon pollinators, particularly those plants that produce edible fruits and seeds.

At Trelonk, not only is it morally incumbent for us to provide for pollinators, but it is also a matter of economics. Yields of insect-pollinated crops have been shown to increase by up to 20% following the introduction of pollinators to the crop proximity and by harnessing the power of this association, we believe we can satisfy both our responsibility to provide for insects, as well as our obligation to create a profitable farming enterprise.

Walk on the Wild Side

Trelonk is lucky enough to be blessed with a vast array of wildlife, making use of the arable field edges, hedgerows, perimeter woodland and tidal mudflats that are exposed once a day.

Throughout the year, there is always something to see; whether it is amphibians around the ponds in autumn, rabbits and deer making use of the warmer spring months, butterflies and day flying moths using our hedgerows as flight paths in the summer or farmland birds gratefully utilising our offerings of seed mixtures to help them through the cold winter.

We have also partnered with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, an excellent resource for us with regards to habitat provision, management or restoration.

Trelonk is also dedicated to preserving the estate to the benefit of all of its wildlife and affording its livestock where possible, a free range lifestyle.