Folly Farm is a traditionally managed working farm and nature reserve run by the Avon Wildlife Trust. It is located between Stowey and Clutton, in the civil parish of Stowey in the English county of Somerset. The farm house is 18th century and the surrounding land includes neutral grassland, wildflower meadows and woodlands with splendid views. Much of Folly Farm is designated as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. Some of the land has never been ploughed. The SSSI comprises two adjacent areas, the meadows and Dowlings Wood. It is also a Local Nature Reserve. It can be found near Bishop Sutton in the Chew Valley, just off the A368. The site is situated on a curved ridge of land on neutral soils derived from the underlying Keuper Marl. The soil is of the Icknield Association with dark brown, moist but moderately well-drained clay. The nature reserve includes the Folly Oak which is over 400 years old.
Wildlife
It attracts a wide range of birds including marsh tit, buzzard and great spotted woodpecker. The pasture is of a kind now rare in the area. In summer the site has a wide variety of flowers such as betony, oxeye daisy and heath spotted orchid. In late summer, it is covered with drifts of black knapweed and devil's bit scabious. Many butterflies can be seen throughout the summer, including marsh fritillary, ringlet, gatekeeper and marbled white. A number of scarce species of fly are listed from the site in Gibbs. The craneflyAtypophthalmus inustus was recorded in Folly Wood in 2001 and the cranefly Ormosia bicornis was found in both Folly Wood and Dowlings Wood in 2000–2001. Prior to these records there had been no previous published records from the county of Somerset. The fungus gnatsKeroplatus testaceus, Macrocera pusilla, Megophthalmidia crassicornis, Exechiopsis dumitrescae and Exechiopsis membranacea have all been recorded, the first four in 2000 in Dowlings Wood, and the last at Folly Wood in 2001. Other species recorded at Dowlings Wood in 2000 were Platypalpus mikii, a member of the family Hybotidae, and the hoverflyVolucella inflata, while the soldierflyOxycera pardalina was recorded from Folly Wood in 2001. Finally, the picture-winged flyHerina palustris and the hoverflies Criorhina ranunculi and Orthonevra brevicornis were recorded at Folly Farm in 1999.
