By George West-Robinson
Chair, Cottingham Parish Council
Since 2021 Cottingham's Friends of Green Spaces (FroGS) have been undertaking practical activities to preserve, safeguard and improve the village’s green spaces. Early in 2024 the group were awarded funds from Rockingham Forest Vision's Community Grant Scheme to help transform a previously neglected green space adjacent to the large community area known as the Dale.
Here George reports on what they have been able to achieve so far.
The project brief was to transform a neglected, inaccessible, overgrown area of the pastureland Dale, located at the junction of three much-used footpaths, into an accessible space for people to relax, rest, meet and enjoy the amazing view of the lower part of the Dale itself. The site is away from traffic and located between the churchyard and the Dale. So, for some, this project provides an opportunity to step off one of the three stretches of footpath to rest, think, and engage the senses, while for others it is a place for contemplation in semi-wild surroundings near the church to recollect, commemorate and mourn. In short, we felt that folk would wish to bide awhile here. And we’ve been proved right, judging by its popularity and feedback.
In the beginning…
What a daunting prospect! And yet precisely the sort of example of nature left to its own devices that Rockingham Forest Vision is about – full of the sort of fauna-friendly flora that humans try so hard to get rid of, and so clearly a corridor linking the Dale, the churchyard (equally overgrown for the most part), the long Dale boundary of trees, shrubs and hedging and the grazed field at the back. So rich in uncontrolled nature but usually passed by with barely a glance through the bramble and nettle screen other than to admire the many snowdrops or forage the wild garlic leaves.
We planned to create a path and seating space here, but the first issue to contend with was re-locating the many clumps of snowdrops, some to further up the sloping space, some to the FroGS project on Corby Road’s steep bank. We knew that the gradient of the slope up from the footpath would make the construction of a path and seating space challenging. A simple bit of Pythagoras told us that the height of the sleeper wall would have to be four-deep, and that, even though we didn’t want an uninteresting flat path, in order to achieve an accessible thoroughfare between the two entrances we’d be shifting a lot of earth, vegetation and debris. Not to mention removing five self-seeded ash saplings, digging out the enormous stump of a storm-fallen tree, and removing several metres of old wooden fencing.
Let battle commence…
Put up the notices and bring in the digger. Plus two heroes, Steve and Rob. It’s early March. The weather will be kind to us. Won’t it? Nope! The daylight hours were mostly rain-free, bright even. But the nights’ pourings turned the ground into digger-cloying clay. On two occasions the digger was sliding and slipping so much that it lost a track. Which is when we discovered that the hire company hadn’t been maintaining it well, and had no personnel with appropriate equipment to do house calls.
Fortunately, the first time, Steve ‘knew a man’ (and his son) who came out as a favour and an informal ‘££consideration’ to fix it. By which time several hours had been lost. The second time, the hire company did send a representative with a suspicious paucity of tools. His first utterance was that he could only stay for 20 minutes. and he was as good as his word! Reader, have you ever tried to put a track back onto a digger sitting at a worrying angle on slippery mud-clay? In the rain? Well, our heroes did, at significant personal risk and an exhausted vocabulary of expletives. And more hours lost, and more labour cost overrun.
Making inroads…
My only contribution to this activity was the red bucket! Well, that and being banished by Steve to lean on the safe side of the fence for several hours each day, speaking words which I felt were of encouragement and praise, but which probably irritated the heck out of them. I tell you this because it turned out, by accident rather than design, to be a fruitful exercise in public relations. I already knew the paths were well used, but boy, had I understated that?
It was absolutely great to be there to field questions from, and explain the project to, a pretty constant stream of dog-walkers, hikers, inter village foot-commuters and, most importantly, to folk who’d come specifically concerned to see what all the noise was about and what irreparable changes/damage we might be doing to the Dale. I’d seriously recommend to any group undertaking such a transition type of project to ensure some means of live, immediate and responsive communication. It didn’t assuage all the gainsaying, of course, because some people were happy just to post “they’ve ruined our Dale forever” WhatsApp messages without stirring from their sofas to even visit. But how rewarding when some of the folk who had come to talk posted counter and corrective views based on the facts and vision we’d discussed.
The sleeper wall is a key milestone…
We’d been pretty diligent at assessing the risks of each stage of the construction work, and mitigating as much as we could to keep all risks to acceptable levels. This was particularly evident in Steve’s decision to cut and deploy RSJ verticals as supports for the sleeper wall, and to hold back the potentially enormous weight of the vertical earth-face he’d dug out. It isn’t pretty, but then we didn’t set out to create a garden. And it’s incredibly, reassuringly stable. It has been our intention from the start, as part of the planting scheme, to drape plants such as honeysuckle from the top and over the sleeper wall face.
That’s Skye, by the way, Rob’s wonderful, mature border collie. She spent every day there, roaming, inspecting (I’m pretty sure of it) and guilt-tripping all of us with those big brown eyes into sharing lunch.
The path is on track…
As with all groundwork, the visible shuttering, MT aggregate and concrete bases for the benches belie the amount of hardcore material, effort and logistics that went into ensuring the stability, drainage and durability of this, the functional aspect of the project. All the materials (hardcore, MT, wood, postcrete, sand, cement, bark etc.) and equipment (digger, mini-dumper, wacker, mixer etc.) had to be transported with tractors and trailers from a farm two miles away which had become a temporary depot. The only viable route to and from our site at the lower edge of the 10.6 acre Dale was to traverse it from the far end, which entailed, as the name indicates, negotiating some significantly sloping, wet grassed surfaces. Did I mention it rained a lot? So, as well as forewarning any group undertaking projects on this scale, in these not-untypical conditions, the need to plan detailed logistics outwith the site itself, I should also urge an expectation that there will be a degree of collateral damage and additional tasks being created. You can’t make an omelette etc.
In our case the transporting and necessary vehicular manoeuvring gouged out inevitable wheel furrows near the site and along the length of the Dale. As soon as possible after the construction phase, and when ground conditions improved, Steve, Rob and the farmer who rents the Dale for grazing, used tractors and manual tools to diminish the more prominent ruts.
It was, of course, grist to the mill for the WhatsApp gainsayers. Don’t get me wrong. I was concerned too, and have every respect for their being worried that we might, indeed, have caused some ruination. My stock response, with fingers crossed, was to urge folk to be patient and to assure them that Nature is remarkable at recovering from such trauma. And, wow, did it do just that? If you’re ever in that situation, keep the faith.
Phew!
And we got our three dimensional ‘layby’ of a path – even better than we’d hoped. All we needed then was somewhere to sit…
The stars of the show arrive – a project benchmark …
We sourced the two benches from a small company called The Woodworking Branch
(https://www.thewoodworkingbranch.com/) in Framfield, Sussex. We had prepared a high level specification which required durability, long term resistance to weather and minimal maintenance, as well fairly specific dimensions, arms etc. We were also determined to ensure that the timber had an unimpeachable provenance – something that was either notably absent from many of the websites we visited, or too vague to inspire confidence. This company furnished us with a letter of certification from their timber supplier affirming that their wood is sourced in the UK from within a 50 mile radius of Framfield, under a valid forestry commission licence. It was interesting, though, to note their remark that landowners in the UK have a quarterly allowance (circa 60 cu ft) for felling timber before licensing comes into effect.
Our benches were made out of British Larch, which is known to withstand insect attack well, and resist the damaging effects of outdoor elements. It doesn’t require a finish to keep its structure over the years but, for good measure, Steve applied a light coat of teak oil before installation.
The company’s owner, Ken, was interested in our project, communicative and helpful. And the killer punch? They only cost £310 each plus £90 delivery! If you’re ever shopping around for benches like this, you’ll be amazed at how much many companies are charging.
Nice aren’t they?
Best seats in the house…
The benches were installed mid-April. The pictures below are of the Bide Awhile space just now in late August.
The intervening time (and extremes of weather) shows them wearing well so far, and the space generally ‘settling down’. FroGS members have worked the ground within the site and spread bark to inhibit the resurgence of the flora that has had its own way here for countless years. This is hard ground to prepare for planting, and an apparently everlasting source of sizeable stones! So much so that we’ve offered stones in bulk to a couple of local landowners for pounding french-drain-style into stretches of footpaths and gateways that are particularly prone to getting boggy.
We have almost reached the point where the site is planting-ready. Notwithstanding (pardon the pun) the fact that the planting stage is yet to be implemented, the space is already becoming well known as an easily accessed place to take a little time to sit and enjoy the view and the ambience.
What next?…
FroGS is an entirely volunteer group. Whilst we have an interested membership of circa 40, the FroGS members who are actually able and willing to carry out physical work on current green space projects (we have several) number less than a dozen. The period between May and September has been one of holidays, grandparent duties and health issues which has impacted our momentum. Having ‘missed the boat’ somewhat on being able to get the planned, agreed planting underway for this site, one of our members has researched and prepared a Planting Diary, taking the list advised and agreed by RFV and their partners. We are now forming our plan of action to procure and plant in accord with this. We are very fortunate in that, through carrying out this and other fairly high profile projects, we are frequently offered donated plants, and occasionally some of these are on the agreed Bide Awhile list.
Tree / Shrub / Planting | Notes (incl best times for planting) | Proposed dates for planting |
Dogwood | Autumn, winter or spring. Need sun | Sept/Oct 2024 |
Dog rose | Autumn. Sun or partial shade | Sept/Oct 2024 |
Crab apple | Autumn or spring. Need sun and good air circulation | Spring 2025 |
Holly | Autumn, winter or spring. Need sun | Early 2025 |
Rowan | Autumn, winter or spring. Need sun and well-drained soil. | Early spring 2025 |
Hazel | Autumn, winter or spring. Need sun and well-drained soil. | Early spring 2025 |
Flowering Hellebore | Preferably autumn, but can be winter or spring. Moist soil, shade or partial shade. | Sept / Oct 2024 |
Hawthorn (red and pink varieties) | November to March. Full sun to partial shade. | March 2025 |
Cyclamen | Plant plug plants in September, corms in November. | Sept 2024 if plug plants |
Rosa Rugosa (bush – pink or white) | Spring or autumn. Full sun or partial shade. | Sept/Oct 2024 |
Woodland bulbs | Summer flowering bulbs should be planted in spring. NB, only native plants. | Spring 2025 |
Primroses | Spring. Sun or partial shade | Spring 2025 |
Rose campion (lychnis coronaria) | Depends whenther seeds or plants. Full sun and well-drained soil. | Late Spring 2025 (as plants) |
Native Bluebells | Bulbs in autumn or "in the green" in spring. Shade. | Sept 2024 if plug plants |
Salvias (various) | Spring and early summer. Sun, welldrained soil. | Spring 2025 |
Yew (limited number) | Spring or autumn. Partial shade. | Autumn 2025 |
Buckthorn (alder) | If bare roots, November to April. Saplings October - February. Damp soil, partial shade. | Nov 2024 |
Buckthorn (purging) | If bare roots, November to April. Saplings October - February. Damp soil, partial shade. | Nov 2024 |
Elder | If bare roots, November to March, saplings Autumn or early spring, avoid frosts. Sun or partial shade. Soil not waterlogged. | Autumn 2025 (saplings) |
Guelder rose | Between late autumn and early spring. Prefers full sun or light shade, damp soils. | Early Spring 2025 |
Spindle | Spring or autumn when soil is warm and moist. Prefers well drained soil, add grit to hole. Full sun or light shade. | Spring 2025 |
Wayfaring trees (Vibernum) | Bare root, November to March. Sapling October to February. Need sun to produce flowers and berries. | Feb-25 |
Honeysuckle | Depends on type. Deciduous, plant late winter. Evergreen, plant spring or autumn. Sheltered location with dappled shade. | Oct/Nov 2024 (evergreen) |
Wildflower seeds | Early spring or early autumn. Avoid clay soil. | Oct 2024 |
Thank-yous and invitations…
Firstly, on behalf of Cottingham Friends of Green Spaces (“FroGS”), a huge thank you to Corinne and Sophie of Rockingham Forest Vision. For the grant, obviously, but also for all the assistance, advice and encouragement. It has all been very much appreciated.
Secondly, without the enormous amount of effort put in by Steve and Rob, much of it above and beyond the anticipated scope of work, and in challenging conditions, this project would not have completed. Thanks, guys – and Skye, of course.
Finally thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and to Lottery players for making these community grants possible.
To all readers of this blog, if you live in or near, or just have an affinity with, Cottingham and want to keep informed as to what we’re up to, let me know and I’ll add you to our mailing list and, if you want more detail, to our WhatsApp group. Meanwhile everyone is most welcome to come and Bide Awhile between the Church and the Dale.
George's email address is grwrconsultingltd@gmail.com
The Cottingham Parish Council website is here http://www.cottingham-northants-pc.org.uk
and there is lots more recent news from the village here https://cottinghamnews.co.uk
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