We are a partnership dedicated
to making part of our living from our wonderful piece of
Bedfordshire and at the same time leaving it in as good or in better
condition in terms of productivity, beauty and biodiversity than when we
started.
This page has some information about the small farm we run and
a
bit of a cv of the people involved. Use the links below to find the
bits you want to read:
The
farm
We look after around 70 acres of land in the middle of
Bedfordshire; mostly grassland with 10 acres of trees. Twenty
or
so acres is old meadows which hasn't been ploughed for many years, or
ever as far as we know. A small area was cultivated during the Second
World War following pressure from the War Ag. Apparently they grew
potatoes for one season after which the Men from the Ministry accepted
what they'd been told the previous year - that the ground was far too
wet. In a wet winter large areas remain underwater. Many years ago,
before the Internal Drainage Board dug the river bed out of the River
Hit,
that flows through the land, the fields must have been severely flooded
most winters.
Grassland
in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme
This is beautiful lowland grassland, much enjoyed by
local people
who use the public footpaths that criss-cross the three fields. There
are old pollard willows, most of which have
unfortunately collapsed
despite efforts to get them back into a cropping rotation. We got to
them too late. These fields have been in a Department of Agriculture, Food
& Rural Affairs (Defra) grant scheme called Countryside
Stewardshipsince 1994. Stewardship has
made it possible for us to develop
our Red Poll herd slowly, learning as we go along. We've also been able
to plant and lay hedges and improve fencing as well as opening the old
meadows to public access.
We
have converted two other fields from arable to grassland and are
managing them by grazing with cattle and cutting for hay.These
fields were added to our Stewardship agreement in 2004. We created two
new permissive paths here - making it possible to have a
good walk around the land, for much of the year, without mixing it with
the cattle - we know lots of people don't like getting too close.
We aren't organic but we do
use as few chemicals as possible - occasional herbicide to kill weeds
in our willow and in amongst newly planted hedges, and minimal
veterinary products when necessary. We hope that the new grass will,
over
time become as diverse as the old meadows alongside them.
Red
Poll Cattle The Red Poll is East Anglia's
native breed, a cross between a Suffolk polled (hornless) bull
and a Norfolk cow (both now extinct), and was first described as a
breed in the latter
half of the Nineteenth Century. In the early Twentieth
Century it was one of the dominant breeds
in English dairy farming. The breed is truly
dual purpose, producing excellent tasting beef, and a good yield of
milk with a high butterfat
and protein content. We
don't milk though; that's left to the calves.
Watch
cattle grazing
Here's a video of a couple of our cattle in high summer -
worth a
look especially if you're viewing this in winter, just to
remind
you of a summer evening
Why we chose Red Poll Cattle
When we decided to buy cattle, we spent a long time talking to people,
reading and thinking about which breed to
keep. We knew that our land
and to some extent our characters were suited to an old
fashioned native breed so we didn't spend much time considering
modern continentals. When asked, we found that most cattle people swear
that their
favoured breed produces the best beef on the poorest forage,
is the easiest calver, is the friendliest, best at crosswords, etc.
When it came
down to it we liked the idea of a local breed and as we are just about
in East Anglia, the choice was suddenly limited. But what really made
the decision easy was an introduction to a couple in a
neighbouring village who have kept Red Polls for a while. Their
enthusiasm and generosity caught us; the taste of the
beef sealed the decision.
Red
Poll cattle make excellent mothers - here's proof...
Of course Red Polls
have proved to be easy calvers and
excellent mothers, producing plentiful milk throughout an eight month lactation. They seem to
cope happily with adverse
weather and relatively poor feed and
they are on the whole pretty docile although we have a couple of
characters who need to be treated with respect. We bought our first
three in-calf cows in 2003 and have since grown very fond of them.....and
they produce
fantastic beef. Read
more about our beef and how to buy it..
Species
diversity
The
winter wet is not great for intensive agriculture, but it is good for
growing an interesting variety of plants and attracting invertebrates
and birds. Species lists of birds and herbs
if you're interested. We enjoy
the large range of plants and believe the variety helps to keep our
cattle happy and healthy - it
might even add to the great flavour of the beef they produce. Even when
there's loads of grass, cattle regularly browse the hedgerows. They
love hops, spindle, elder, ivy, nettle tops and a huge range of other
treats, and even go blackberrying in August and September!
During
the last couple of summers we have seen lots of common blue
butterflies
on the new grass, attracted by the birds-foot trefoil
growing amongst it. Every so often in the summer, a few
marbled
white butterflies appear, a species that lives in sometimes small,
sometimes isolated populations. Hopefully we are doing the
right
things to maintain ours, which usually
hang out in the ride through our newly planted wood.
We are lucky enough occasionally to put
up
a snipe from
the wet meadows. This exciting, small wader with its erratic
flight
would have been more common along the river many years ago even though
it was probably shot regularly. There are far fewer quiet, wet
places for it to forage now and those that do remain are (like ours)
probably too well populated with people and their dogs to be of much
interest to a snipe out looking for accommodation. Each winter we see
perhaps two or woodcock in Bottom's Corner.
Two decades ago, common
buzzards were an incredibly rare site in
Bedfordshire. We still associate these
beautiful birds with the wilder parts of the
UK; so it's wonderful that we now
regularly
see two or three and sometimes more, soaring over Gravenhurst's very
tame fields and woods.
See
for yourself
You can visit our fields anytime on the public footpaths that cross
them; and wander freely in the three old meadows covered by Stewardship
access. You'll find an 8 mile circular route that passes through
neighbouring villages Shillington and Silsoe that crosses our land, on
the Let's Go
website www.letsgo.org.uk
If you'd like to have a guided walk and talk to us about what we do
take a look at our visits
page.
Willow
Being interested in and having some experience with growing trees, when
looking for a diversification project, we landed
after extensive
research on planting willow. This has proved to be an interesting, very
labour intensive yet rewarding side-line. We are now supplying basket
makers as well as others who use willow - with material from the
finest, most
delicate varieties to real monsters. We are also selling products made
ourselves - balls, plant supports, hurdles, etc.
Woodland
Chester Wood is a tiny remnant (about 1.5acres) of
semi-natural ancient woodland; a mixture of ash and
hazel coppice stools, a few English oak and
ash standards, some elm at one end
a couple of crab apples
and a mix of
shrubs including Midland hawthorn (Cratageous
oxycantha).
We think the soil is somewhat enriched from years of fertiliser
spreading in the adjacent fields allowing an invasion of stinging
nettles and thistles. Despite this, bluebells and dogs mercury persist
as well as ransoms and a few wood anemones.
With a bit of grant aid
from the Forestry Commission (which paid
for a
chainsaw amongst other things), we coppiced about 80% of the wood in
three bites starting in
February 1997. Although a bit alarming at first, the neglected ash
stools responded really well. Some had not been cut for around 80 years
although Jane's Mum recalls her uncles cutting bits and pieces out,
perhaps in the 1950s. Coppicing kept our own fire burning for 10 years
and we also sold quite a substantial volume of firewood locally as well
as keeping family members supplied on and off.
To fulfill grant
obligations, the
Forestry
Commission required us
to plant into gaps, which we did in around 2000/01, first
using
densely growing ash seedlings relocated, then a couple of years
later
with plants grown on from seed collected from trees in the wood. Some
have died, but many are now thriving.
After 10 years, the coppice regrowth
reached over 18
feet and the
poles were approaching firewood size (4-5" diameter). We have
no immediate plans for recoppicing although
hope to squeeze this into the
schedule over the next few years.
Bottoms'
Corner We
are very
fortunate to have
retained ownership of an 8 acre corner of an arable field right next to
Chester Wood. In early 1999, we planted Bottoms' Corner
(named after Jane's Mum, nee Bottoms, who played in Chester Wood as a
girl). Again with help from the Forestry Commission, we
planted this with hazel and a mix of broadleaf trees, leaving a wide
strip
alongside Chester Wood to regenerate naturally. It was always our
intention to coppice the hazel on the basis that good quality hazel
seems to be in demand. We started cutting hazel in 2003/04 and have cut
a small cant each winter, selling tops as pea sticks. In winter 2007/08
we cut the first reasonably big stems and have succeeded in selling a
fair number. As this is the first cut, a large proportion of stems are
curly and knotted. After cutting, stools are now throwing up plenty of
good looking, straight, branch-free poles - hopefully these will be
more plentiful each winter.
We've been watching the ground
flora develop in a rather unscientific
way. The arable weed cover (black grass, wild oats,
thistles, etc.)
that appeared in the first couple of years after planting has faded and
the more open areas have developed a quite diverse cover of perennial
grass and sedge species. Ash seedlings are in places very dense and we
have been cutting sallow out for a few years because it is so
successful and is competing with the hazel. The hazel is
growing
quite variably - in places it is very vigorous and in others it has
almost done nothing; perhaps something to do with micro-variations in
soil type? Where it is growing best, the canopy has closed, creating a
beautiful, shaded, woodland feel with very sparse ground cover.
One exciting appearance since the spring of 2006 has been
common
spotted orchids which have popped up in several locations around the
new plantation.
We hope to use Bottoms' Corner for Forest School activities in the
future. Whilst Chester Wood's ground flora is a bit
delicate, particularly in the spring months, Bottoms' Corner, being a
new plantation is far more robust so can manage quite happily having
people charging about, making dens and playing games in it. Buy
hazel
A
note about a veteran ash
pollard
This formidable ash pollard stands next
to the River
Hitt.
Something of a landmark locally, it's a
great place to hang
out and enjoy a July afternoon. There's been at least one wedding under
its considerable canopy and one can't help wondering at the conceptions
that may have occurred there over the years...
Several years ago a small hole appeared in one side. This attracted
some attention and rubbish and one summer day it was set
alight.
This was quickly dealt with and thanks to the services of Beds
County Council's tree guru, David Alderman, a small oak cap was
attached to a now largish hole. A bit of crown reduction, also thanks
to David, began the on-going process of restoration. Unfortunately, the
tree again burst into flames (we assume not spontaneously). A call that
morning sent me down there to meet a fire crew from Shefford who,
gamely armed with a stirrup pump, spent a long time dousing the flames
through a now gaping opening in the poor old tree's flank.
After the brigade's
departure, another call sent me back down to see
smoke pouring out of the tree again. A good friend, Chris, who was
married down there
the previous year, so cares powerfully for the tree and was
madder
than a really mad bloke that someone could take the trouble to burn it,
energetically hoisted buckets of water from the river and passed them
to me, now inside. Armed with an enamel mug, I chucked water onto the
smouldering underside of the massive root plate. And we succeeded in
putting out the fire.
David Alderman stepped in
again with
the offer of some well rotted wood
chip with which we later filled the hollow tree. Amazingly it still
looks mostly healthy. The hole is once again sealed with an even more
splendid oak door, created by Ian Freemantle of EcoForestry.
The picture (right) showing Guy and family was taken for an exhibition
to promote the Ancient Tree Register. Thanks to David Alderman, David
Stubbs and the Woodland Trust.
There's more information and some great images at the Ancient Tree
Register's excellent web site Cow Bridge Ash
Jane
Lambourne
A
graduate with a degree in Environmental studies. In the past, Jane has
been in full-time employment with Beds County
Council, the Wildlife Trust and English Nature. After a few years as a
full-time mother, she started to be offered contract work alongside
setting up the farm business.
Between September 2007 and March 2008, Jane was employed by the
Wildlife Trust to write and deliver a primary school education
programme at Paxton Pits Nature Reserve, Huntingdonshire; a
cross-curricular, child-centred learning adventure - "Wild Journeys of
People and Wildlife".
In 2007 Jane received "Forest School" leader training through Bridgwater College
Jane
is one of the founder members of Fibs
& Fables
Bedfordshire's storytelling club and sometimes works in collaboration
with other storytellers and musicians. When the opportunity arises, she
becomes half of a formidable double act with her sister Susan. For more
information about Susan's work,click
here To
visit
Wassledine's storytelling page,click
here
t. 01462 711815
m. 07794 013876
e.
info(at)wassledine.co.uk
Guy Lambourne
Also a graduate, with a degree in Applied Biology, Guy thought
his
future lay in crop protection but took a job with Hertfordshire County
Council's Countryside Management Service in the late 1980s and has
stayed in the countryside management line since. After four years in
Hertfordshire as a Countryside Ranger, he moved to Bedfordshire County
Council where he worked as a Project Officer and Rights
of Way Officer.
Later he moved to the Forest of Marston Vale, one of the 12 Community
Forests in England, where he now works part-time looking after
Community Liaison duties. More information about theForest
of Marston Vale.
Subscribe by clicking
on the link above.
And
finally, the name...
'Wassledine'
is the name of one of our fields, which until 2003 had been arable but
is now grass. We thought it would make a good prefix for the herd and a
name for our business.
Although we don't know its origin, it has
been suggested that there may be a Dutch link although it
sounds German
to us. It appears in various spellings on post and pre-enclosure maps
so must be of some antiquity.
There
may be a link to wassailing
and we like to imagine Jane's
forebears leading frenetic, alcohol fueled frolicking through the
village and into the field (conveniently close to the pub) with a view
to increasing their crop yields; well maybe.
