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Hedgerows
Pollardine – The Valley of Gatten, Part 2
Pollardine - The Valley of Gatten, Part 2By James LawsonPollardinePollardine was until the early seventeenth century a detached part of the manor of Pontesbury and not part of the Gatten estate. In the later Middle ages it was owned by the Greys, Lords of Powis. The...
The Valley of Gatten
The Valley of GattenBy James LawsonThe Valley of GattenGatten is not mentioned in Domesday and it subsequently transpires that it was originally in the manor of Wentnor and later in the parish of Ratlinghope. In which case in Domesday it was owned by Roger Corbet of...
The cattle arrive
The cattle arrive By Jane Hulton-Harrop And then the cattle arrived...It was getting dark and raining. Our initial excitement did wane a little as we waited and waited getting wetter and wetter. Then we found that the articulated lorry had taken a wrong turn at the...
A Wood Pasture Tool
A Wood Pasture Tool By Tom Hulton-Harrop A problem regularly faced by farmers, land managers and conservationists is the question of where to plant trees. While it’s a good idea to follow the adage of planting the right tree in the right place, determining the exact...
Electric fencing
Discovering electric fencing By Jane Hulton-Harrop I had used 3 strand electric fencing years ago to ‘strip graze’ lambs on swedes. It was not the most successful process as the sheep would push through or become entangled. For our holistic planned grazing experiment...
Where did it all start?
Where did it all start?By Jane Hulton-HarropSo, where did it all start? We knew that things had to change and that we had to change them.No use looking backwards to the living we used to make from our upland sheep and beef enterprise, the world was changing and we...
Autumn
AutumnBy Jane Hulton-HarropThe mornings get lighter later and the evenings darker earlier. There’s a chill in the early morning air although often sunshine in the afternoon. Pollardine Preserves Damsons are one of the tastiest fruits of our hedgerow. They generally...
Hedgerows at Pollardine
Hedgerows at PollardineBy Fiona GomersallIn 2017, we were lucky enough to be one of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust's selected sites for a plant species survey. Fiona Gomersall carried it out and wrote this piece about our hedgerows. Over the years Jane and Roger...