Nicky Scott’s green roof
Chagford
A meadow on a roof, inspired by those found on wooden cabins in Norway.
When I first went to Norway many years ago I really loved all the log cabins with green roofs, some even had animals grazing on them. So when I had a new shed built for me a couple of years ago, I said I wanted to have a wildflower meadow on it.
This meant making the structure stronger than normal to hold up the extra weight. I used Greenseal as the membrane rather than Norwegian birch bark. I put the poorest soil I could on top mixed with some sand and made a few little piles of stones here and there too.
I sowed all kinds of seeds up there, some annuals, including yellow rattle, biennials and some perennials too. I also planted several plants to get it going in the first year.
In Norway they even put green roofs on noticeboards and any little structure possible. It would be so lovely to see that idea taking off here.
The shed roof is alive with bees and other insects and takes very little maintenance, just a little bit of cutting back so far.
Other "Me and my Meadow" stories
David Smart and Steve Wileman
Higher Coombe, Dartmoor
The magical evolution of an unremarkable sheep and pony paddock.
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.
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.
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.