Traditional events include Terrier Racing, Country Crafts, Games, Bottle Tombola, Books, Plants, stalls from a variety of local charities, organisations and suppliers, Punch & Judy, Bouncy Castle, BBQ, Tea Tent, Bar, Live Music and more including Arena Events and the renowned Hampshire Wheelbarrow Race up Blissford Hill.

Both Transition Fordingbridge and the Hyde and District Climate change forum will be there.

Frogham Fair

via Frogham Fair.

Garden Share Project

Let’s Get Growing is for Ringwood residents who have underused gardens and we aim to link  them with people who would like to grow their own. The scheme can help you grow healthier fresh food, reduce  weekly shopping bills, is good for the environment and will mean new friendships can be forged.

We provide a service that will bring people together. Once they have been checked, and a mutually agreeable arrangement drawn up, you can get growing!

via Home | Let’s Get Growing.

Cadland, Fawley, Beaulieu, Lyndhurst, Blackfield and the Forest Education Centre are all busy planting their seeds in the hope that theirs will be the champion. Other local schools are invited to contact Fairweather’s if they would like their pupils to take part. A detailed pack on instructions and exercises that support the National Curriculum are included. Patrick Fairweather,  Fairweather’s Garden Centre owner says “This competition will help the children to learn about growing plants from seed, and hopefully they will appreciate the importance of plants in the environment, as well as adding an element of fun”. In October pupils will be invited to attend a “weigh-in” event which will be held in Fairweather’s Learning Garden, where each flower head will be weighed and recorded. A prize will be awarded to the winning child and a separate prize given to their school. Fantastic sunflower facts: Each sunflower head is made up of around 4,000 individual tiny flowers. The Spanish brought the sunflower seeds back to Europe around 1510. The sunflower is the national flower of Russia

via Local Schools are Growing Giants – New Forest Food.

Hale Village Hall, Hatchett Green, Hale, Hampshire SP6 2NE

Saturday 17th April from 9am to 12 noon

Profits to sustainable community projects.

Please walk, cycle or share lifts to reduce pressure on the car park.

For further details please call Paula or Richard Downard on 01725-510577.

via Local Food Market – Hale and Redlynch – New Forest Transition.

Spring woodlanders at Spinners

To enjoy woodland diversity on your doorstep and to save thousands of air-miles pay a visit to Spinners near Lymington in the New Forest. The Spinners garden is set in a delightful glade dominated by Oak trees under-planted with shrubs and herbaceous perennials from around the world. Many of the herbaceous plants are true woodlanders and have to get most of their growing and flowering done before the trees around them are fully leafed-up, as a result Spinners quickly builds up to a Spring crescendo of colour and growth that is quite magical.

Erythroniums, Trilliums and Cardamine were the star players when I visited the garden in early April. Camellias and Azaleas were just getting going and through the leaf little all manner of exciting shoots were thrusting their way into the light.

If you see something that you lust after enough to want to possess then take a look at the well stocked Nursery – you’ll be tempted!

All the information you need is on the Spinners web site just be aware that the last turn off into School Lane doesn’t have a Spinners signpost so look for the School Lane sign.

Here’s a selection of images taken April 6th 2010

The much improved National Gardens Scheme web site showed Durmast House as being the closest to home and also Apple Court not so far away either.

Durmast House.

We visited years ago, I recalled a pleasant garden with some exceptional Erythroniums and also much ado about Gertrude Jekyll influence in the garden design. We felt a re-visit well worthwhile to see how things had progressed.

The ample NGS signposting certainly brought out the crowds and the sun had made the effort too. Sadly, not much else to report from this garden. The Orchard area was looking delightfully daffodil rich with a few Erythroniums showing far more leaf than flower. The classy glasshouse looked comfortable tucked in at the end of the Orchard but it was a bit sad to see such a fine structure rather poorly prepared for one of the few openings of the year. The propagation area alongside the glasshouse looked even more dishevelled.

The glasshouse at Durmast House

Perhaps it was the result of a long, hard, wet Winter but the rest of the garden looked as though it was in need of more effort put into it’s future than has been applied to it’s past. The Lavenders have suffered from old age and the wet, the roses are getting tired and the new planting of Ghent Azaleas looked a bit half-hearted. Our visit was over in just a few minutes.

The tea and buns area looked to be bustling and probably for many this was the highlight of the event……….we passed on the catering and headed off to Apple Court

Apple Court

I knew Apple Court well from the days when Diana Grenfell and Roger Grounds were there so I was unsure what to expect with gardens in the care of new owners. We approached through the sales area which was unchanged from Roger’s days. We were greeted by an industrious, friendly lady who was in fact the owner and paid our fee. To get our bearings we headed straight down to the house and were met by the chickens and a chicken look-a-like Scotty Dog……all very friendly and fitting for that end of the garden.

Pleached Limes at Apple Court

We were impressed by the gardens, the original layout and features were much as they were 10 years ago – just more mature. The only major addition being the Japanese garden and Koi pond. Not being a garden designer I can’t comment too much but there is a lot to see and enjoy in the 1 acre plot. The use of hedges is clever and accomplished well – the upkeep must be demanding and costly. The paving, ornamentation and structures are well chosen and pleasing without being intrusive and despite the lateness of the season there was plenty of plant interest to enjoy.

The Japanese garden was a real treat, relaxing and clearly a big hit with the other visitors. It was a pleasure to see Koi being well cared for in a pond that showed them off to good effect.

Croad Langshans at Apple Court

Full marks to the owners for keeping the gardens looking so well and for maintaining an enticing sales area. We are looking forward to going back with our camera gear when the Daylilies are blooming.

Just for info: the chickens are Croad Langshans, friendly and real characters.

Fresh, garden peas

Our intention is to control how our food is grown, to reduce food miles and to cut out all middle men and their associated profit.

We need to know if there are enough people out there who would be interested in such a project? If there were enough people interested we could even employ a market gardener to grow the food and do a box scheme of some sort.

via Any one interested in a community market garden project? – New Forest Food.

Sergeant Louise Hubble is the face of a new partnership project to tackle rural community issues including wildlife and environmental crime in the New Forest.

Red admiral on Aster

The officer is heading up Forest Watch – an initiative led by the New Forest National Park Authority, Hampshire Constabulary and partners to look at everything from fly-tipping to poaching, arson and nuisance vehicles.

Forest Watch also relies on expertise from the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Natural England, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, National Farmers Union and New Forest District Council.

The scheme will focus on priority areas agreed following consultation with members of the rural communities.

Sgt Hubble will be coordinating Forest Watch from the National Park offices near Lymington two days a week.

She said: ‘Forest Watch is a great opportunity to improve engagement between key partner agencies and members of the rural communities throughout the New Forest.  Much of the role involves listening to the concerns of landowners and gamekeepers and coordinating a multi-agency approach to address their concerns.  Forest Watch will provide greater collaboration between partners and will address rural issues through a combination of education and enforcement.’

Barrie Foley, Interim Chief Executive of the New Forest National Park Authority, said: ‘It is the first time all the partners have joined forces in this way, to share expertise, information, and resources and to fully coordinate our response to tackle these problems in the Forest. Forest Watch is an example of true partnership. It’s about preventing damaging activities from taking place and keeping the forest safe for people and wildlife, now and in the future.’

Chief Inspector Gary Cooper, the New Forest District Commander, said: ‘Forest Watch is all about identifying rural issues and by bringing the Steering Group together, we will be able to identify and understand the real issues within the New Forest  and start to tackle those issues to improve confidence across all areas of our communities.’

Mr Cooper added: ‘We are grateful to Hampshire County Council and the Environment Agency for the substantial financial investment, which allows Hampshire Constabulary to second Sgt Hubble to the National Park Authority to drive the Forest Watch initiative two days each week.’

For more information about Forest Watch scheme, contact Sgt Hubble on 01590 646667, email louise.hubble@newforestnpa.gov.uk.

To report any non-emergency issues in the New Forest dial 101.

via Forest Watch joins forces.

The New Forest - Summer morning

Come along for practical advice on greener living and demonstrations of some of the latest technologies. See how you could save money and improve your health at the same time as helping the environment. With children’s activities, New Forest Marque catering, and stalls, talks and demonstrations on everything from renewable technologies and insulation to wildlife gardening and wood turning, it promises to be a fun and vibrant day with something of interest for everyone. Find out more here including a list of exhibitors, or download the poster and print it to show friends or put up on your notice board. Organised by New Forest National Park in conjunction with New Forest Transition and Brand New Forest

via New Forest Transition.

Oak leaves against blue sky

New Forest crime watch launched

THIEVES, flytippers and poachers had better stay well away from the New Forest this summer as a new scheme to stamp out criminal behaviour begins. The Forest Watch scheme was launched yesterday with a seminar at the Lyndhurst Park Hotel, at which issues affecting various forest communities and organisations were given a through airing. Forest Watch will be headed by Sgt Louise Hubble, who will be stationed at the National Park Authority headquarters at South Efford House two days a week. As well as police and the NPA, the project will rely on the expertise of the Environment Agency, Forestry Comm-ission, Natural England, Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service, National Farmers’ Union and New Forest District Council. At the moment the team says it is too early to outline specific schemes or ways problems will be policed. But NPA interim chief executive Barrie Foley said issues coming out of the seminar included the problems of flytipping and littering.“There are other priorities that we are going to discuss that we can add to that but what was definite is there is a need for Forest Watch.“What we have here is a number of stakeholders that have got a lot of expertise and who can gather a lot of information.” Sgt Hubble said other issues highlighted were thefts of farm machinery, diesel fuel and scrap metal, arson, and wildlife crime such as poaching, the persecution of birds of prey and habitat destruction. “By the end of April we will have the four prority areas identified. “Each priority area will have a plan owner and we will be able to give a bit more detail around activities,” she said.

via New Forest crime watch launched From Bournemouth Echo.