Duchess Green
YGS Environmental Consultants have undertaken an Ecology Study and produced a Landscape Masterplan for Duchess Green. We were awarded a Community Capacity Fund to finance this work which was undertaken early in 2024. Following a meeting with the consultants, the Working Group, Volunteers and Parish Council asked for the plan to be amended to reflect the rural landscape and honour the tranquility of the field. On this basis, with Marsh Farm Partnership, we have been awarded a second FIPL (Farming in Protected Landscape) grant to develop the plan. See the linked pdfs for more detail of the Landscape Masterplan and Ecology Study.
Please contact Clare Tagg (clare.tagg@landulph.org.uk) if you would like to know more about Duchess Green.
Development of Duchess Green
We hope to open Duchess Green in Spring 2025. While Duke Orchard is primarily an orchard, Duchess Green is larger with more diverse habitats. We will be honouring the history of the field by resurrecting an old pond and planting hundreds of bulbs. There will be more fruit trees but also willow as an arch in a natural play area and for basket weaving. The biodiversity of the environment will be enhanced by planting local species to extend the hedgerows and as an experiment a new tiny forest using the Miyawaki approach which uses a natural approach to speed up tree growth.
Duchess Green will be accessible via a boardwalk bridge over the pond and we aim to make the paths at the lower part of the field wheelchair/buggy friendly with access to a composting toilet. In addition to some seating and picnic areas, our grant covers a tiered green meeting space and two field shelters with natural roofs which will have bird watching slits. A path right round the field will be a welcome addition for those who like to run.
The development of Duchess Green is being guided by an ecology study and we aim to install bat boxes and nesting boxes. If you'd like to know more about the development please attend a Parish Council meeting (there is a report at every meeting), talk to a member of the Working Group or become a volunteer. Please don't try and visit Duchess Green at present as there is no public access.