The Sustainable Communities Fund awarded £10,000 to the Hampshire Magnificent Meadows project run by CPRE Hampshire to deliver a programme of engagement around helping to protect the rare chalk grassland of the South Downs.
The SCF is a dedicated community fund run and managed in partnership by the South Downs Trust and the South Downs National Park Authority. The following is just one of a range of initiatives that have been awarded grant funding across Sussex and Hampshire.
The grant given by SCF has had a big impact on effective meadow management in the Winchester area, offering free training to locals to learn the art of scything.
Training sessions and volunteer tasks were run over the late summer to help develop traditional scything skills and were organised by the countryside charity CPRE Hampshire.
Activities included scything, raking and baling in the meadows at Bar End, Winchester the chalk grassland around St Catherine’s Park and Ride. Tasks were undertaken under the instruction of local meadows expert Rachel Remnant from Land Lore Consulting.
See this short film from CPRE showing how hay is made the traditional way – by hand!
The Hampshire Hedge project
This initiative is part of the wider Hampshire Hedge project, connecting up the New Forest and the South Downs National Parks with green corridor of hedgerows and wild spaces. Over a 3-year period (started Autumn 2023) CPRE Hampshire is hoping to restore a network of 12 – 14 miles of hedgerows working with local communities, schools, landowners and farmers to manage existing hedgerows and plant new ones, connecting up copses and meadows along the way.
Magnificent Meadows
Magnificent Meadows is a project aiming to connect local residents and these special places via making hay by hand, school visits, chalk lawn garden surveys and wellbeing in nature sessions.
Find out more about the Sustainable Communities Fund here