Methwold is a village in the county of Norfolk in England, it has a population of about 1400 people. Methwold parish is the second largest parish in Norfolk in terms of land, extending over 12280 acres. The parish currently has approximately 20 farms ranging from about 60 acres up to 1000 acres. Farming in Methwold and the surrounding areas accounts for a vast majority of jobs in the fens, even if people don't farm, a lot of the work is connected with the land.
Other than farming there are a variety of different occupations in Methwold. It is home to a funeral directors, an undertakers, more than one mobile hairdresser, an auction market, a combined newsagents and post office, a 'village store', a butchers and the list goes on. Self employed individuals include; builders, plumbers, electricians, decorators, publicans, gardeners, window cleaners, financial advisors, solicitor, smallholder, coal merchant, secondhand car-dealer, beautician, secretaries, artists and many more that are constantly varying,
One of the two main businesses in Methwold is "Darby Nursery Stock Ltd", this business was formed in 1961 and is now one of the largest specialist container grown shrub and tree nurseries in the UK. Sites down Old Feltwell Road and the Broad Fen Farm in Methwold Hythe provide some 2 million plants annually. In Methwold, Darbys is situated down Old Feltwell Road where there is plenty of land for the production process.
The second largest business in Methwold stands on a site that has played host to Howard Long International (HLI) and Fisher Chilled Foods in the last few years. HLI was taken over by Fishers after 40 or so years and they continued with the preparation of salad ingredients which were supplied nationally to McDonald's, Sainsburys, Asda, Waitrose, Littlewoods, Budgens and Gateway. After Fishers came the world renowned company Del Monte which continued with the tradition of food preparation and boosted the reputation of Methwold as a village of industry. In the past few months more changes have taken place on the site and it is now home to Premier Foods.
One of Methwold's proudest attributes is the auction market which holds a sale every Monday. The market is in the middle of the village about halfway down the High Street. On a normal Monday morning a large crowd is attracted to the sale of various treasures and other "curiosities", but on a Bank Holiday Monday the figure increases dramatically, people come from all around to see what is on the field, in the barn and shed, and of course what rarities are hiding away in the antiques section which is held in St. George's Hall.
As well as the market people make use of the attracted crowds to sell any unwanted gifts and general bric-a-brac, stalls are set up in the car park of The George Pub or added to the collection of stalls in the large car boot sale behind the Social Club. These are in competition with the numerous "yard sales" that pop up on Bank Holiday weekends.
