ABC of Chippenham: Donkey Field

Just five minutes walk away from our house is the Donkey Field: an area of open land bordering the Bristol Road, Sheldon School and the sports club. It's a much needed set of 'green lungs' at the western edge of the town: used by walkers, dog owners, school cross country runners and me when I used to commute to Bristol. It formed about half of my 20 minute walk to the railway station and was a welcome escape from the roar of the traffic on the main road.

It's neither park nor countryside, but something in between. There's two main areas: pictured is part of the smaller one where the grass is left longer to allow masses of wild cranesbill to bloom in summer. The other part is much bigger and mown a little more often - I don't really know why. There's also a couple of old hedgerows: one by the school and the other bordering Hardenhuish Brook where it flows near the main road. Both have many dens and swings made by children in the summer.

I haven't got to the bottom of why it's called the Donkey Field round these parts: research at the town's museum and the county History centre have born little fruit so far and I haven't had time to make enquiries at the Town Hall yet. I have established it formed part of the Hardenhuish estate and was either gifted or sold to the town by the Clutterbuck family on March 7th 1938. The Borough records of the time label it as 'Open Space' with a value of three hundred and ninety three pounds, six shillings and six pence (£393 and 32.5p in today's decimal parlance).

The land has a covenant to prevent building on it, but this has already been breached when the town sports and social club was built. In late 2007 the football club applied for planning permission to take another slice of land to use for covered pitches, but so far this hasn't materialised. I for one hope it doesn't as I would like the land to remain available to all local residents.

This is for ABC Wednesday and is the fourth post in my themed series about Chippenham.

Comments

  1. ???9 February 2011 at 09:26

    It's a cute name. I like it that they leave one section to grow, it allows so much many more plants to appear. A short lawn is one of the most overrated things ever, in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sylvia (England)9 February 2011 at 09:38

    I hope that they keep this area as it is so well used. We have a similar area behind us, which the developers keep 'eyeing' without any luck so far! The name reminds me of a cottage I used to live in, Donkey Cottage, Donkey Lane - it was said that the field next to the cottage had donkeys in at one time but no one knew if it was true.

    Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Margaret @ BooksPlease9 February 2011 at 10:16

    I think it's important to keep areas like this unspoiled by buildings. Maybe you could get it registered as Common Land, or as a Village Green which would protect it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Janet/Plantaliscious9 February 2011 at 11:14

    Areas like this are so important, for people and wildlife alike. I hope the planners don't let it get encroached upon, for all that I am in favour of there being lots of outdoor space for sports activities.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Diana Studer9 February 2011 at 13:36

    http://cityofsunshineandstorms.blogspot.com/2011/01/green-spaces.html

    Cape Town's Green Point Common has recently acquired this new Park, with a capital P. Our space has many buildings from sports clubs, and of course the HUGE Green Point Stadium from the Soccer World Cup.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Laura Bloomsbury9 February 2011 at 14:34

    Do hope your Donkey field remains inviolate. Such a pretty walk through and especially needed in these days of devouring town planners.
    Happy ABC Wednesday
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  7. petoskystone9 February 2011 at 14:44

    lovely piece of land. hope it is allowed to stay that way!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Leslie:9 February 2011 at 20:33

    You must see if you can get the history of its name! Isn't it wonderful to have areas like that in the midst of concrete jungles where your mind can be at peace.

    Leslie
    ABCW Team

    ReplyDelete
  9. Roger Owen Green9 February 2011 at 20:39

    pretty scenery. like the wild look myself.
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

    ReplyDelete
  10. Barbara9 February 2011 at 20:42

    These areas of open land are so important, I see wild flowers grow there. Lets hope it stays open land.

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP10 February 2011 at 14:41

    Jedediah - welcome! I forgot to mention there's lots of wildflowers beneath the hedgerows too :)

    Sylvia - I suspect it's called the Donkey Field because that's where the Clutterbucks had their donkeys. We'll see what the Town Hall has to say on the subject next time I'm in town...

    Margaret - welcome! The man at the History Centre told me that covenants can be easily broken, hence why the sports club were able to do what they did. I wonder if Common Land/Village Green registration would be more effective? That's a good idea.

    Plantaliscious - there's lots of space for outdoor activities surrounding this land, so for once I think it's use as a general 'freeform' recreation area/ open space is much more valuable. We have so little of this kind of thing in Chippenham.

    EE - that's most worthy of celebration :) Our Olympic Park in London will be the largest park built in Europe since Victorian times.

    PatioPatch - welcome! It was my highlight of the day to walk through here on my way to/from work

    Petoskystone - fingers crossed

    Lesley - it certainly was a good stress reliever. The days I used the car to get to/from the station were never as good

    ROG - the masses of cranesbill are fab in the summer :)

    Starnitesky - good to see you again. I hope so too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Su-sieee! Mac10 February 2011 at 18:35

    Yay for open spaces! In my town, open spaces mean owners are waiting to sell their no-longer working orchards and fields. I hope your town can keep the Donkey Field free from development always.

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more