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.
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
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
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.
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.
Jackie Parsons and Joe Kelly
Holne
A smallholding with a late summer species-rich meadow, used by ewes and lambs and much other wildlife.
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
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 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.
Chris Chapman
Wonson, near Throwleigh
Three acres restored from a sheep-grazed pasture into a haven for wildlife.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.