But rather like ducks on the water, on the surface all may appear calm but behind the scenes we’re beavering away to take the park back in time. Gradually we’re restoring the park to how it was in the nineteenth century – stripping out some of the coniferous plantations that the Trust inherited and creating a healthy patchwork of native woodland, open grassland and waterways.
Seeds Stockpile
Already there are welcome signs of what’s to come…a wildflower meadow right by the car park stockpiling local species seeds ready for harvest, a 5-hectare lakeside plot stripped of 2,000 conifers. It’s a slow process but well worth it, as yellow rattle, violets, red clover and cowslips start to make an appearance where once conifers were the only thing growing.
One of the unexpected perks of uprooting conifers is that they expose a poor limestone soil much loved by meadow plants. And cattle love it too.