Bosavern Community Farm

The Land & The Beginning

Bosavern Community Farm is located near St Just at the very western tip of Cornwall, on land overlooking the sea on the A3071 in West Penwith. The site has a particular history. After the Second World War, it was used as a training ground for would-be farmers. It was later bought by Cornwall Council. In 2009, a small group of local enthusiasts leased the land to grow vegetables. When the Council decided to sell it in 2014, a huge fundraising effort was set in motion.

The National Lottery’s ‘Local Food’ fund, a community share offer, and a generous local benefactor all contributed. The land was purchased by Bosavern Community Enterprises Ltd, established as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) charitable organisation with a strong local membership and a management team led by a Board of Directors directly elected by the members. Today, the farm sits on 36–40 acres of land.

The Model: Not-for-Profit Social Enterprise

Bosavern Community Farm is run by Bosavern Community Enterprises Ltd, a not-for-profit Social Benefit Society. It is worked by a community of employees, members and volunteers in a financially, socially and economically sustainable way. There is a small core of paid posts and a large team of regular and occasional volunteers. The farm operates according to Wholesome Food Association principles and farms to organic standards, mindful of soil enrichment and carbon capture, recycling organic matter, using minimum tillage, and as little mechanisation and as much ’no-dig’ as possible.

What Happens Here

The farm comprises 6 polytunnels, a fruit cage, several bee hives and a number of outbuildings including the Hive – a community education space. The produce is sold through a Veg Box scheme (operating across Penwith), at a Farm Shop on site, at farmer’s markets in Sennen (Tuesday mornings) and St Just (Saturday mornings), and wholesale to local hospitality businesses and schools. The farm produces vegetables, some fruit, eggs (’legendary’ according to local testimony), hay from wildflower meadows, and honey in partnership with the Cornish Black Bee Company.

Beyond production, Bosavern provides an environment for education, workshops, events and for the community to cultivate skills and join together to celebrate the produce and the seasons. The farm has developed a number of schemes and activities in response to local needs for learning or special support and has become a key resource for the wider community in and around St Just.

Biodiversity & Land Stewardship

The farm site includes 28 allotments, wildflower meadows, hedgerows, and a community woodland – all carefully managed for wildlife, especially pollinators. The farm received an ‘Outstanding’ certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society for its pollinator planting. It is the largest Community Supported Agriculture Project in Cornwall.

Bosavern sits within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (part of the National Landscape). It works closely with officers at Cornwall Council and with other strategic land management partners including Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the National Trust, looking for ways to dovetail activities and support each other’s aims. The farm propagates and supplies specific wildflower plugs to the National Trust to enhance biodiversity on their land, helping address species decline for particular rare species of bee and butterfly.

Recognition & Future Direction

Bosavern is registered as a Community Hub in recognition of the health and wellbeing benefits of community growing schemes. The farm has won several awards in recent years. It networks with other agroecological and regenerative growers across Cornwall and works with academics from the University of Exeter Environmental Sustainability Institute.

The farm’s three core objectives are: (1) To produce and sell local food sustainably; (2) To provide community access to land and its produce; (3) To provide a welcoming space and opportunities for people to come together and learn about growing food, regenerative agriculture, conservation and healthy, sustainable living.

Why This Matters

Bosavern proves that land – particularly marginal or abandoned land – can be collectively owned and regeneratively farmed at the edge of the UK. It demonstrates that food production, community education, biodiversity, and livelihoods can coexist on the same piece of ground. It shows that people will volunteer their labour and knowledge if they have genuine ownership and voice in how land is used. In a context of food insecurity, rural depopulation, and wildlife loss, Bosavern offers a model rooted in place, accountable to members, and grounded in the belief that we all deserve access to good, local food – and to the land that grows it.