the park
Goodworth Clatford
august 2019:
The meadows in The Park continue to benefit from conservation grazing by cattle. Pedestrian access to Water Meadow has been improved by the provision of a kissing gate on the bridleway, not too far from The Chalkies. In time a second kissing gate will be installed closer to River Entrance, thus enabling a very pleasant circular route around the meadow.
We had hoped to start a botanical survey of plant species in The Park in the Spring, this is taking longer to organise than expected, but do have a look when walking the meadows as there are quite a lot of interesting wildflowers to be seen. The range of plants differs on the lower wetter land from that seen on the drier rising land, i.e. the upper part of the Parkland Meadow.
Sadly our application to the Veolia Community Fund was not successful this year. We understand that there were a huge number of very worthy projects seeking funding in 2019. You will continue to see some improvements in The Park this summer, new cattle gates have recently been installed on the bridleway, but to keep moving forwards we will need to continue working on securing other funding.
Our first fund raising event was recently launched at the very successful Village Assembly - a raffle with many attractive prizes, very kindly donated by local businesses and individuals. The raffle draw will take place at the Goodworth Clatford Fete on August Bank Holiday. We hope the proceeds will provide a good boost to our funds. Please do support the raffle, and encourage your friends and visitors to buy tickets too.
Finally a big thank you to those families and individuals who have made private donations to The Park fund, and to everybody who stops to tell us how much they are enjoying using our own part of the countryside.
The Estate Management Group
June 2019:
Now that the Water Meadow has been re-fenced the farmer is able to move the cattle to and from the Park Meadow and the Water Meadow ensuring that neither site is over grazed. This completes our first target for securing safe grazing of animals in The Park ensuring the character of the Park Meadow and the Water Meadow remains as we all have known it.
This month we anticipate knowing whether our application from the Veolia Community fund has been successful enabling us to improve access into both meadows with additional kissing gates and installing cattle gates.
During the summer we are launching our first fund raising event by having a raffle with many attractive prizes very kindly donated by local businesses and individuals including evening dinners, a magnum of wine, wine tasting with a tour around a local vineyard and a family ticket to the newly opened restored Museum of Army Flying.
The draw will be towards the end of the Goodworth Clatford fete on the August bank holiday. We hope to raise sufficient funds to continue to complete our plans for The Park. These aims were described in our presentation at the Parish assembly last month.
The Estate Management Group
APRIL / MAY 2019:
We were thrilled to hear recently that one of our two applications for external funding has been successful; we await the result of the other application this month. As a result of the funding from IGas, by the time you read this article the Water Meadow should have been re-fenced. The cattle will then graze both of our meadows in rotation.
April has, as normal, brought a flush of growth in our meadows, hedgerows, and woodland. Due to poor maintenance in the past, nettles have established themselves in both our meadows and along our bridleway, particularly near the River Entrance, off Church Lane. Nettles provide a wonderful source of food for many insects, including butterflies, and therefore should be valued. However they are best kept away from places where people walk. We want to continue to maintain The Park without the use of chemicals, and the best way to discourage the growth of nettles is to cut them regularly! You won’t find nettles in your lawn, or in well-grazed meadows, because they are mown or cropped regularly. Nettles can’t tolerate continual regular cutting. Cutting once or twice a year won’t work, the cutting needs to take place every time the nettles are about ankle-high. We hope the cattle will enjoy the nettles in the meadows, but wonder if you can help us cut the nettles on the bridleway? We are looking for ‘Nettle Monitors’ - would you be willing to cut the nettles within an agreed area on a regular basis for this growing season? The area you take on can be very small or larger – it’s your choice. If you would like to help, please contact Geoff Scard on 01264 353055, or geoffscard@gmail.com.
The Woodland Belt has recently been fenced at the north end (the end nearest to the church). A small gap has been left, next to the Parkland Meadow fence, to enable you to gain access on foot to and from Church Lane. This temporary access will remain in place until a new kissing gate is installed at the adjacent St Francis’ Entrance. In the autumn, we will be re-planting the north end of the woodland belt with young trees, but at the moment we are stockpiling wood chip, which will be spread on the ground to help de-compact the area. Trees don’t grow well on compacted ground.
The Estate Management Group
April has, as normal, brought a flush of growth in our meadows, hedgerows, and woodland. Due to poor maintenance in the past, nettles have established themselves in both our meadows and along our bridleway, particularly near the River Entrance, off Church Lane. Nettles provide a wonderful source of food for many insects, including butterflies, and therefore should be valued. However they are best kept away from places where people walk. We want to continue to maintain The Park without the use of chemicals, and the best way to discourage the growth of nettles is to cut them regularly! You won’t find nettles in your lawn, or in well-grazed meadows, because they are mown or cropped regularly. Nettles can’t tolerate continual regular cutting. Cutting once or twice a year won’t work, the cutting needs to take place every time the nettles are about ankle-high. We hope the cattle will enjoy the nettles in the meadows, but wonder if you can help us cut the nettles on the bridleway? We are looking for ‘Nettle Monitors’ - would you be willing to cut the nettles within an agreed area on a regular basis for this growing season? The area you take on can be very small or larger – it’s your choice. If you would like to help, please contact Geoff Scard on 01264 353055, or geoffscard@gmail.com.
The Woodland Belt has recently been fenced at the north end (the end nearest to the church). A small gap has been left, next to the Parkland Meadow fence, to enable you to gain access on foot to and from Church Lane. This temporary access will remain in place until a new kissing gate is installed at the adjacent St Francis’ Entrance. In the autumn, we will be re-planting the north end of the woodland belt with young trees, but at the moment we are stockpiling wood chip, which will be spread on the ground to help de-compact the area. Trees don’t grow well on compacted ground.
The Estate Management Group
MARCH / APRIL 2019:
The fence sub-dividing the Parkland Meadow has now been removed enabling the cattle to graze the whole meadow. We hope the Water Meadow will be re-fenced by late spring, so that the farmer can move his cattle easily between the two meadows to prevent overgrazing. Conservation grazing promotes biodiversity, it is good for creating flower-rich swards, & as cattle don’t graze too close to the ground they are less likely to create bare patches like horses. Tufts of vegetation left by the cattle will also provide habitats for butterflies & other insects.
We are keen to collate as much information about the history of The Park as possible, so if you are interested in helping us by delving into historical records, please let us know. Two hundred years ago The Park formed part of the grounds of the extensive Goodworth Clatford vicarage. Parkland landscapes were the height of fashion in the late 17th& early 18thcentury. Please contact Anne Keenan (01264 324193 or anne@annekeenan.co.uk) to find out more about helping with the on-going research.
We have gratefully received two major donations from villagers to enable us to install two more kissing gates to improve access into the Parkland Meadow.One kissing gate will be located at the south end of the meadow, next to the bridleway & the old chalk pit knownas ‘the chalkies’. The second kissing gate will allow access to the north-east corner of the meadow from Church Lane, via the track near the church. This entrance will be known as St Francis’ Entrance in recognition of the Home of St Francis that was established at the former vicarage in the early 20thcentury.
We have recently applied for funding from two external sources. We will know the results of these applications during May and June. If we are successful, we hope to be able to start improving the current entrance to The Park, from Church Lane near the river, install signage, & provide more new gates to further improve access for both people and livestock.
The Estate Management Group
