Bartonsham Meadows is a piece of land down by the river, a ‘ham’ in the dialect, a hundred or so acres of low-lying fields looped by the river and the river willows. I know it well, and have in the past lived in four of the nearby houses. It has been grazed by dairy cows for several generations of a farming family, and has been an important place to the community, who have used it for dog walking and swimming and, in my case at least, because it was the nearest open space that did not have the neatness of the nearby parks and was a good place for field mushrooms. The fields were not rich in species because of the constant grazing, but they were pleasant enough, and the cows made it feel like real country. Like almost all farmland in the UK it had lost much of its biodiversity as a direct result of being managed by farmers. Most of the hedgerows had gone, along with an orchard and several ponds, and maybe other features I don’t know about. But in fairness to the dairy farmers, they accepted the public’s use of this land. Many farmers and landowners like to assert what they see as their right to absolute and exclusive use and ownership of land, but these farmers were remarkable for their apparent acceptance of the way the community networked it with paths, all the more so since dog poo can be a serious health risk for dairy cattle.
Bartonsham Meadows
Bartonsham Meadows
Bartonsham Meadows
Bartonsham Meadows is a piece of land down by the river, a ‘ham’ in the dialect, a hundred or so acres of low-lying fields looped by the river and the river willows. I know it well, and have in the past lived in four of the nearby houses. It has been grazed by dairy cows for several generations of a farming family, and has been an important place to the community, who have used it for dog walking and swimming and, in my case at least, because it was the nearest open space that did not have the neatness of the nearby parks and was a good place for field mushrooms. The fields were not rich in species because of the constant grazing, but they were pleasant enough, and the cows made it feel like real country. Like almost all farmland in the UK it had lost much of its biodiversity as a direct result of being managed by farmers. Most of the hedgerows had gone, along with an orchard and several ponds, and maybe other features I don’t know about. But in fairness to the dairy farmers, they accepted the public’s use of this land. Many farmers and landowners like to assert what they see as their right to absolute and exclusive use and ownership of land, but these farmers were remarkable for their apparent acceptance of the way the community networked it with paths, all the more so since dog poo can be a serious health risk for dairy cattle.