No. 8 - MOAT MEADOW

The lovely little meadow in front of you is called Moat Meadow. It provides one of those very special habitat combinations, water/grass/trees.

Parkland

The avenue of Oaks, across the meadow in front of you, was planted in 1981, to replace the avenue of ancient, pollarded Elms, lost to Dutch Elm Disease during the 1970s. Some of the fallen Elm trunks have been retained as valuable habitat (and foraging for our Woodpeckers). Other specimen trees have been planted, in an endeavour to recreate the original parkland feel of Moat Meadow.

Pollards

The row of Limes, beside New Road to your right, was 'pollarded' (similar to coppicing but at a sufficient height to be above the reach of browsing animals) in the mid 1960s and is now in need of re pollarding.

Laid Hedge

The hedge behind you that runs along the drive was laid by the veterans during the National Hedge Laying Championships in 2003. The oldest of these, who laid the final 'cant', or section, closest to New Road, was 87 years old (or young!). A number of different hedge laying styles were employed (although once clear, these are now only discernable by an expert).

Trees

The two meadows either side of the farm drive are one of the few areas of the farm where we have a really healthy mix of ages and species of trees from saplings through to very old dying, and even dead, trees.

Increasingly the age and species diversity of our tree and hedge population has been one of the central planks of our conservation efforts. The catastrophic effects of Dutch Elm Disease brought about this rethink: the disease destroyed all of our Elms, which sadly formed 90% of our tree population.

As a result we now have a far healthier tree population incorporating over a dozen different species (e.g. Oak, Hornbeam, Black Poplar) ranging in age from 1 to 30 years, spread around the farm in copses, belts and hedges. Hopefully, in years to come, these trees will provide a useful resource for firewood, construction or even furniture.

The Roman Akeman

The Roman Akeman street is thought to have passed through this meadow, just beyond the avenue of Oaks, on its way up to Castle Hill and on northwards. This street came from Wimpole, and went all the way to Ely, which at the time was a major port. It was the only convenient way to get across what was then all marshy fenland.