Manor Fruit Farm

Manor Fruit Farm (MFF) was leased by Normandy Parish Council from Guildford Borough Council in 2000 for 125 years to provide a recreational facility for the community.

MFF is well-used open space serving the whole village community. Its main uses are for play, dog walking, recreation and wildlife conservation. The facilities in the open space consist of a conventional playground, adult fitness green gym, trim trail, Peace Garden, benches and picnic benches, Normandy Bowling Club and Guildford Archery Club as well as the Normandy Therapy Garden.  Normandy Village Shop and Café will be opening in spring 2023 and will be a welcome addition to the site.  The Village Hall is run by the Village Hall Trustees and has its own land within the MFF area.  There are numerous clubs, sports and activities run at the Hall every week.

Going forward, the Council is looking to develop MFF for people and wildlife.  Since 2020 the large back field has been left to grow long in the summer, with regularly cut paths providing access for walkers.  Over 200 species of wildflowers have been identified from this area along with numerous butterflies and other invertebrates.  In 2022 over 600 native trees have been planted on MFF, creating new hedgerows and a small copse.

After carrying out a Village Survey in 2022, the Council wishes to ensure that future development and activities at MFF are those wanted by village members.

Key areas for development are:-

  • improving the play features to be suitable for a greater range of children and more accessible for those in wheelchairs or with mobility issues.
  • ensuring the bridges from across the wide ditches are in the best, and safest, locations and are useable by all.
  • creating an accessible path from near the Bowling Club to the Peace Garden and looking into how we can make more of the walking paths accessible for all throughout the year.

The Council would love to hear from you if you would like to support us and work with us on any of these projects.

Events at Manor Fruit Farm

The Bonfire and Fireworks Event run by the Council is the biggest annual event at MFF and in 2022 attracted a crowd of about 5000.  We have a ‘Quiet Fireworks’ session for the younger or noise sensitive members of the community and this is followed by a traditional fireworks session with all the bangs you expect!

This is a community event and community groups such as the Explorer Scouts, Normandy Nightingales WI and our local Fairground Community.  The Council would love to hear from other local community organisations that would like to be part of this event.

The Council traditionally ran a Summer Fete on the last August Bank Holiday Monday; however in recent years this has not happened.  First there was Covid and so in 2021 the Council held a summer picnic to keep within Guidelines. Then in 2022 we had the wonderful Queens 70th Jubilee event, with a fabulous band, great over-sized games and food stalls.