Our Story
We bought the site 18 months ago. The aim is to rewild, grow fruit and veg and provide a nature filled haven for campers and wildlife to enjoy.
Last year we planted an orchard of fourty native fruit trees suited to the SouthWest from Honiton nursery.
Shortly after we discovered the deer eating them so we promptly built tree cages around them. (The post basher is very good exercise to build up the biceps).
We have also planted 500 whips (tree seedlings) into hedges in the top campsite field. Some of the trees will be left to grow tall and provide varying heights and habitats.
This spring we put 100 willow branches straight in the ground on the left edge of the large camping field (from the willow tree in the front garden that needed trimming). Willow is the most amazing tree which the branches when cut off and planted straight into the ground will grow rapidly into new little Willow trees. The only help given was a small tree protector around the bottom of the branch. The hope is to coppice these for woodchip for paths around the site and to use as needed for compost, mulching, etc.
This year we will be planting more trees. Every new campsite visitor to us joins the greener camping club for that camping year, who then give us a tree to plant for that membership; all native tree whips given to be planted this winter.
We also hope this summer to get up owl boxes to attract Barn Owls and Raptor posts for the buzzards and kestrels that are often around the campsite. There are lots of songbirds in the very mature hedgerows to listen to and try and spot them from their birdsong.
We also plan to create a pond down the bottom of that field to encourage aquatic wildlife.
Dyers Meadows
This land was called Dyers Moor, Dyers is the common name for chamomile and is so called because it was traditionally used to produce the warm/yellow colour for textile dying. It works better on silk and wool than cotton.
We are re establishing some Dyers chamomile in the meadows as well as other wildflowers.