Our brilliant volunteer team spent the weekend toiling under the hot sun (possibly too much?) using only their bare hands (patently not true) and without sustenance (this is ridiculous – they had Hob-Nobs, I saw the packet!) to create a canvas for nature to work on.
[Ed.: We’ve hired someone else. Let’s start again.]
If you’re visiting Upton Village Hall you might notice a few changes to the land around it. The grass has been stripped; the blue benches have gone; there are new contours and trenches. The transformation from ex-playpark into wildlife haven is under way.
We had a small setback in that we’d hoped to repurpose all the rubber matting from the slide area as pathway underlay, following good environmental practice to reuse where possible. But we realised we couldn’t scrape a bed for the paths without disturbing the roots of the existing mature trees. Not to worry though – we have biodegradable membrane in reserve.
Otherwise it all went to plan – we heaved and backhoed until we had etched out Alexander Little’s design in earth rather than ink. Of course the site now looks bare, but as we’ve been taught nature abhors a vacuum. We’ll be filling it up as quick as we can with shrubs and perennials, wildflower seed and bulbs, trees and hedging plants – the first planting event will take place either 23/24 October or 30/31 October. Check back here or on Facebook for confirmation.