There are plenty of surprises in Lincolnshire’s food scene, but few match The English Olive Co near Long Sutton. Here, on the edge of the Fens, farmer David Hoyles has planted 18,000 olive trees across a 25-acre grove, creating the UK’s first commercial olive grove.
The Hoyles family have farmed this land for more than 250 years, growing crops including potatoes, peas, sugar beet, wheat seed and mustard seed for Colman’s. The olive grove marks a new chapter and brings fruit-tree farming back to the farm for the first time since 1923.
Planted in 2024, the grove is a bold, long-term response to warmer, drier conditions. David and his team are trialling 10 olive varieties to find out which best suit Lincolnshire’s reclaimed silt soils, while managing the young trees sustainably without insecticides or fungicides.
The first olives have already been hand-harvested, pressed and bottled, with production inspired by knowledge shared by Italian growers. The first English Olive Oil became available at the end of 2025, following a year that also saw the online shop launch and national media interest grow.
This is a pioneering local food story: ambitious, rooted in family farming and genuinely different. Watch this space for updates and subscribe to the farm’s Olive Press newsletter to find out more.
