May/June 2021

GLAMPSITES
guests and will be varieties they probably
have never tasted before as you will not find
them in the supermarkets.
WORTH THE WAIT
In the spring, it was so exciting to see the
yellow rattle flowers developing. Yellow
rattle is especially good for establishing
wildflower meadows as its roots develop
underground and seek out the roots of
plants growing nearby, especially grasses.
Once contact is made, the yellow rattle
draws water and nutrients from them,
suppressing the growth of grasses by
as much as 60 per cent and allowing
wildflowers to flourish.
In the first year, the new wildflower
meadow started to establish and the
wildflowers themselves became evident
alongside beautiful meadow grasses such as
common bent, meadow foxtail, red fescue
and cat’s-tail. Meadow grasses tend to be
finer and shorter than coarser grasses so that
they do not dominate wildflowers.
But what we hadn’t bargained for was a
whole new level of noise! I’m talking good
noise! A noise that hadn’t been there before.
The delightful sound of grasshoppers and
crickets chirring away and the contented
buzz of bees and hoverflies collecting
pollen and nectar – the sound of a summer
wildflower meadow.
The biggest surprise in that first year was
the arrival of the marbled white butterfly
to feed on the field scabious and the
knapweeds. The meadow has become a
haven for butterflies including the meadow
brown, gatekeeper and common blue who
are all regular visitors and are increasing
in numbers year on year. The peacock,
tortoiseshell, brimstone and red admiral
butterflies are often spotted around the
wider area of the farm.
Then Covid-19 struck which has been
so devastating for everyone. We made
the difficult decision to delay opening the
glampsite again until April 2021. However,
not ones to give up, in true British style we
“kept calm and carried on!” So, we got on
with planting the cider apple orchard in the
centre of the glampsite.
Working with both Walcot Organic Nursery
and our local community orchard, Colwall
Orchard Group, we chose local historical
and organic cider apple varieties dabinett,
Harry Masters Jersey, Kingston Black and
Yarlington Mill. We planted these in early
spring 2020, and we are looking forward to
“THE MEADOW HAS BECOME A HAVEN FOR BUTTERFLIES
INCLUDING THE MEADOW BROWN, GATEKEEPER AND
COMMON BLUE WHO ARE ALL REGULAR VISITORS AND ARE
INCREASING IN NUMBERS YEAR ON YEAR”
creating our unique blend of cider in the
years to come.
In the meadow’s second year, it
completely changed again with many more
wildflowers appearing including yarrow,
betony, birdsfoot trefoil, ragged robin,
selfheal and oxeye daisies. It’s been such a
joy to watch the meadow transform through
the seasons offering different wildflowers at
different times of the year.
By adopting the traditional meadow
management method, based around the
main summer hay cut in combination with
autumn and possibly spring mowing, the
meadow itself manages future sowings. The
meadow grassland is not cut from spring
through to late July/August to allow the
species to flower. After flowering, we take a
‘hay cut’ using a tractor and a flail collector,
mowing the grass to roughly 50mm. The
cut hay is then removed and given to a local
farmer who feeds it to his cattle.
It’s been a labour of love creating the
wildflower meadow but it has been an
essential addition to the farm, making a
beautiful space for ourselves and our guests
to enjoy and learn about nature and our
amazing insects.
We love early morning walks in the
meadow with Dolly, our parson russell
terrier, when all is quiet apart from the
crowing of the cockerel and evening
walks in the late summer glow, watching
the swallows in flight across the orchard
meadow, swooping and diving in pursuit of
insects. It truly is a special place to be!
38 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM