Me and my Meadow

Across Dartmoor and beyond, hundreds of people are managing many acres of wildflower-rich meadows as a habitat for a wide range of flora and fauna, all helping to create a living landscape across the region.

Meadow makers range from farmers passionate about nature-friendly farming, to private landowners with an acre or two who manage their patch as a nature reserve, to those with simple wild areas in their orchard or garden.

Stella Tracey and Rob Hubble

Shaugh Prior, Plymouth

A garden and adjoining 1 acre meadow have developed into a biodiversity hot-spot

Bronwen & Martin Gundry

Blackdown Hills AONB

A 38 acre farm with a variety of habitats, including unimproved pastures and hay meadows

Julian Pady and Alison Andrews

Goren Farm, Honiton

Goren Farm has been in the family since 1955 and was farmed as an extensive dairy farm up until 1990. Since then the fields have been set to hay meadows to develop a natural balance with nature

Mike and Gill Cunniam

Holne, Dartmoor

A one acre garden nature reserve - wood meadow, pond, plants for pollinators, bird and bat boxes. All helping to attract a lot more insects and bird life

Shira Rüb and Richard Lemon

Lower Ashton, Devon

A former pony paddock, now with over 108 species of plants recorded

Andrew and Kate Brown

Near Cotehele, Cornwall

A wildlife haven in the Tamar Valley with traditional hay meadows, orchards and woodland

Louisiana Lush and Julian Granville

Luppitt, Blackdown Hills AONB

The ongoing transformation of two farms - 200 acres of mixed meadows, woodland and wood pasture - to what they would have been like prior to the 1970s

John and Katharine Milverton

Hittisleigh, Exeter

Hittisleigh Barton Woods and Meadows Project, Exeter. Bringing 143 acres into the best condition possible for wildlife

Nick and Sarah Smith

Bickington, Dartmoor

A Dartmoor farm’s focus on improving soil health, sequestering carbon and ensuring its future

Haymaking at Bridford Trust haymeadow

Bridford Trust Hay Meadow

Bridford, Teign Valley, Devon

An area of mixed woodland and grassy open spaces for community use, converted from farmland into a village green, but also including a hay meadow.

Robert Powell and Jane Emberson

Dousland, near Yelverton

Establishing patches of meadow and other habitats in a garden in west Devon brings in the wildlife

Charlotte Parton and David Jenkinson

Broadhempston

The creation of a garden wildlife haven - a new wildflower meadow and nature pond, starting from scratch.

Brian and Angela Nicholas 

Mole Valley, Exmoor

An unploughed meadow with over 170 species of plant recorded

Simon and Christel Chater

Holy Brook valley, near Buckfastleigh

The beginning of a wildflower meadow journey

Julie Palmer

Bradworthy, Devon

A working farm where the flora and fauna are nurtured

Rebecca and Chris Gethin

Higher Pudsham, Buckland-in-the-Moor

A former pony and goat paddock is now a wildlife sanctuary.

David Smart and Steve Wileman

Higher Coombe, Dartmoor

The magical evolution of an unremarkable sheep and pony paddock.

Angela and Paul Brassley

Ilsington

The transformation of a farmed field into a nature reserve.

Nicky Scott's green roof, Chagford

Nicky Scott’s green roof

Chagford

A meadow on a roof, inspired by those found on wooden cabins in Norway.

Robin and Veronica Aaronson

Ideford

A labour of love: The restoration of a previously unmanaged flood plain meadow.

Donna and Kevin Cox

Buckfastleigh

Management of a variety of grasslands for the benefit of wildlife.

Jackie Parsons and Joe Kelly

Holne

A smallholding with a late summer species-rich meadow, used by ewes and lambs and much other wildlife.

Young fawn in the meadow in Buckfastleigh

David and Jackie Crook

Buckfastleigh

David and Jackie have turned five acres of heavily grazed pony paddocks at Buckfastleigh into flower-rich grasslands alive with wildlife.

Steve Pollard

Beetor Farm, North Bovey

The restoration of a species-rich down, which was cut for silage for many years on a working farm. In the last seven years it has been managed as a hay meadow with an ever-increasing abundance of naturally occurring flora, including three types of orchid.

Bas and Rosemary Payne's meadow

Bas and Rosemary Payne

Clifford Bridge

Bas and Rosemary Payne let the grass grow up in a wild area of their garden and were bountifully rewarded - with many wildflowers, butterflies, slow worms and more.

Cami

Cami and Jamie’s meadow

Dartington Estate

Cami Rose and Jamie Perrelet's stewardship of The Meadow, a wild pollinator and honeybee sanctuary, on the Dartington Estate, Totnes.

Buttercups and Yellow Rattle, bottom meadow, Cross Park

Chris Chapman

Wonson, near Throwleigh

Three acres restored from a sheep-grazed pasture into a haven for wildlife.

Scything at Pound Meadow, Chagford

Nicky Scott

Pound Meadow, Chagford

A four and a half acre community meadow in Chagford, previously grazed by sheep, now managed for its wildflowers and wildlife.

Green-winged orchids at Deer Park Farm

Audrey Compton and John Whetman

Deer Park Farm, Chudleigh

Nearly 40 acres of ancient grassland and hay meadows, supporting over 350 species of wild flowers, winner of the 'England Meadow and Grasslands Award' in 2015.

Meadow at Carrapitt Farm, Bridford

Geoff Hearnden

Carrapitt Farm, Bridford

A working farm that has evolved over 40 years into a nature reserve, including turning ten acres of agriculturally improved rough grassland into a species-rich wet meadow.

Mary Staniland in her meadow, Buckland-in-the-moor

Mary and Charles Staniland

Buckland-in-the-Moor

Four acres of species-rich meadows at Buckland-in-the-Moor that were just waiting for a change in the management in order to reveal their natural treasures.

November ponies in the meadow on Dartmoor

Ralph Mackridge and Jill Millar

Pudsham

A small two acre meadow at over 300 metres altitude.

Pat Mead’s garden meadow

Dartington

How a grassy patch of lawn has been transformed into a bee haven.

Charlotte Oliver

South Hams

Charlotte's managing her fields as hay meadows and is rewarded with orchids, sweet hay and a host of insects, moths and butterflies.

Join the Meadow Makers' Gallery

No matter where your meadow is, whether you have rolling acres or a mini-meadow in your garden, we'd love to hear about it. Fill out the form below and we'll be in touch to let you know what you need to provide.

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