Meadow update

I thought I would take a picture of the meadow prior to having the main patches of nettle, dock and thistle topped.

It looks great although the issues of nettles, docks and thistles need to be addressed before they take over. Hopefully by cutting the main clumps the grass seeds will colonise the ground covered by problem weeds for next season.

The meadow is also having a good wildlife effect and there are starting to be significant number of butterflies. There are more ringlets than I normally see and countless meadow browns and tortoiseshells.

Removing fences

I have reintegrated the smaller paddock into the front garden by removing the post and rail fence that has been there for decades. It transforms the look of the place, particularly improving the setting for the dovecote which no longer has a fence running into it on each side. We don't know how old the dovecote is but is mentioned as being there in 1577. The top has been replaced by brick presumably in Victorian times when other brick parts were added to the house

Heritage Orchard

I have just had an email confirming my last two apple varieties are due for delivery this autumn. They are Queen Caroline (from Measham in 1820) and St Ailred (Coalville 1942) and both had to be specially grafted which gives an eighteen month lead time. The other three trees were available "off the shelf" and were planted last December. They are Barnack Orange (Belvoir Castle 1904), Dumelow's Seedling (Shackerstone 1800) and Bramley's Seedling (Southwell 1809). The only one that originates outside Leicestershire is the Bramley's Seedling and Southwell is only 40 miles away.

I originally wrapped up the Heritage Orchard project with the idea of a water management project a main element of which would be rebuilding the moat banks in one place. However this is not as straightforward as it appeared at first so I have proceeded with the orchard element for the moment. Meanwhile no longer having horses on the property leads me to the idea of not only cleaning up the larger field (see previous entry) but also removing the fences around the smaller field and reintegrating the area, including the orchard, into the 'front garden'.

Reclaiming the field

The field is just over two acres and for the five and a half years we have been here we have let horses use it. The arrangement which was originally for rescue horses was no longer working for us so we have taken the field back. The first task was to clear the field of the rubbish on it , a major part of which was a burnt out lorry chassis. This was cut up and will be taken to the scrap yard. The next task was removal of paving slabs, bricks, plastic rope and other general rubbish that
had accumulated over the years. Then the field was chain-harrowed. Apart from flattening out the dried-in hoof marks from the heavy shire horses this will also hopefully help any wild flower seeds germinate. I have noted many flowers blooming in the field but this year without the horses I can construct a comprehensive record.

Adverse possession

Being an ancient site in the middle of a village there has naturally been a lot of land 'leakage' over the centuries from the original lands that would have been with the house in mediaeval times. A loss in recent times came to light a couple of weeks ago when a land registry document arrived stating a neighbour was claiming title to a strip of land adjacent to our property. The law essentially says that if you have fenced off and used land for more than twelve years you can claim it - even if there were title deeds indicating it originally belonged to someone else. This strip of land rang a bell with me because one of the searches we did, at the time we bought the place, showed an extra piece of land. I checked with the solicitor but was told that this was not relevant. And he was right because the land had been used by the previous owner of our neighbour's property for nearly thirty years. I did some research in any case with a long-standing resident of the village who was friendly with the restorer of the house and also with the restorer's son who lives a few miles away. Essentially it turns out that the restorer had got fed up with not having a proper fence to keep livestock in and had apparently given away this piece of land in exchange for a fence. There seems to be no paperwork but this example of informal barter is now being formalised at the land registry under the 'Adverse Possession' regulations.

Water management in the 12th century

I am beginning to get an inkling of how sussed they were in mediaeval times as regards water management. What is becoming clear to me that is that the site is not just a place where a moat was dug but rather some very sophisticated management of aquifers and geology to maintain a site water table a metre or so above the stream in order to keep the moat and carp pond full of water. I am now keen to pursue a plan for the entire site rather than just focus on the moat. The survey has shown us that the carp pond and moat are hydrologically continuous and basically you can't raise the water levels in one without impacting the other.

Moat project gets started

Having a twelfth century moat is both a responsibility and an opportunity. Just now I am focusing on the 'opportunity' aspect as the project to raise the water levels gets started. The reasons for doing this are both for the look and feel of the moat and for wildlife. From a look and feel the moat will just seem better if it is full of water rather than half or two thirds full as it is now. For wildlife it is about ensuring the moat doesn't dry up in a hot summer and providing a better habitat for water fowl and grass snakes. I also fancy I spotted a water vole last summer and if they are to be encouraged onto the site then they will need deeper water.

So yesterday saw me holding a pole with lots of markings on it while a kind neighbour who understands about surveying and has a theodolite did the clever stuff. Now he has to translate that into a relief map so that we can plot out what needs to be done to the area of moat bank that has degraded over the centuries. Then I can apply to English Heritage for scheduled ancient monument consent.

Meanwhile my next immediate step is to get in touch with the county wildlife trust and get their opinion on my plans and whether indeed we stand a chance of getting 'ratty' back on site where I am sure he has been in the past.