About Tamar Valley Walnuts

Allison Taggart and Peter Wattke purchased the farm in December 2021 from Wayne and Suzette and have been working hard to learn about Walnuts and caring for our 4500 walnut trees.

The trees represent an opportunity for us raise our family in the beautiful Tamar Valley and we are very greatful that we can live, work and play in a Valley that has such an excellent reputation in the food & wine industry.

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Some History

Wayne and Suzette migrated from Durban, South Africa, in the late 1990s with their two young children Jason and Amy. Wayne and Suzette were determined to make a life in their new homeland, buying the land now known as Tamar Valley Walnuts, a 100-acre farm where he cleared the scrub and rocks, planting 4500 walnut trees over the next 20 years.

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Why walnuts?

A mathematician and scientist by trade, Wayne meticulously researched the best crop to grow on his farm at Bridgenorth in the Tamar Valley. In the end, it was a toss-up between walnuts and olives. We would like to say it was the history of walnuts, which are the oldest tree food for humankind dating back to 7000BC or how they were reserved for royalty in Persia, that decided the matter.

But, in the end, Wayne asked his then 10-year-old daughter Amy whether she liked olives or walnuts more and she picked the latter!