The Silver Fox Farm,
Sheringham
This is a personal account from a lady who worked at the Silver Fox Farm one summer. Her name is Doris Louisa Bohannan nee Pegg who is now living in Chelmsford.
I was 20 years old in 1932 and I lived in a house called Hebron which my father had had built in Nuttalls Meadow on the Common. I only worked on the farm for a few months during the summer of that year. I used to walk from my home through the Spring Woods to work. The Farm was on the site of the old waterworks which led down to the tower in the High Street.
The Farm was owned by a Mr & Mrs Stuart, they must have been in their late 30s,
they had three children, 2 boys and later on a girl, she was called Felicity (maybe she
still lives in Sheringham). The bungalow had 5 rooms and I was employed as a general help
for the sum of 12 shillings a week.
A driveway along side of the bungalow led down to the Fox Kitchen and the Offices, the
kitchen was used for the fox's food, which as far as I can remember consisted of a lot of
eggs and baby turkeys, there were a lot them about, and I do remember that the kitchen was
spotlessly clean. I had to feed the baby turkeys with crushed stinging nettles which I had
gathered from round about the farm.
The foxes themselves were housed in pens completely made up of chicken wire both round
the sides and on the floor, presumably to stop them digging their way out. They were
beautiful creatures with black and silver fur. I supposed they were bred for their fur.
There must have been just under a hundred as far as I can remember.
There was a Canadian who worked for the Stuarts, he looked after the foxes and he took me
up to the top of an outlook built purposely to overlook the fox pens. He lived in a small
cottage on the common somewhere near Brittens Lane.
I presume the foxes were transported for slaughter, I don't remember it happening on
the farm. I hope this is of some interest to you, and wish I could remember more.
This information was very kindly sent to us by Doris's daughter Penny Jay.
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