Case study: Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire

Project description

The cornerstones of Guy and Jane Lambourne’s approach to Wassledine Farm are local and sustainable. Their activities include countryside experiences (walks and talks, storytelling events, craft classes, work with schools); coppicing to provide continuous access to hazel and willow, and the production of a range of products from the resulting materials; sustainable charcoal production; grazing Red Poll cattle on their grass meadows.

The farm already included an area of hazel and willow coppice, and they were looking to grow their capacity and introduce a larger crop rotation.

Focus on biodiversity

Another key consideration was the desire to boost biodiversity, as a result of which, the owners undertook an ecological survey as part of the design process. The site is semi-improved grassland and has been grazed by the Red Poll cattle for many years, so to benefit the local ecology, it was recommended that rides and glades be included, which could be maintained, but also allowed to scrub up at certain times of year.

Woodland design and planting 

The resulting woodland is 2.5 hectares, consisting of 4733 trees, with 1.8 metre spacing in the three hazel compartments and 2.5 metre spacing in the mixed broadleaf compartments; the latter included to support the farm’s biodiversity goals. Access has been provided through the middle of the site and an area, to be known as Underwood Corner, has been left to encourage a wild meadow to develop, featuring pollinator-friendly species such as black knapweed, ox-eye daisy and birdsfoot trefoil. As tree guards would have made coppicing more difficult, deer fencing was implemented as protection.

Volunteers from the local community were invited in to deliver the initial planting on site, with the community as a whole encouraged to use it.