Learning through Landscapes - September 2012

LTL's "Profiles" newsletter for school grounds professionals features the article "A fresh start", by Alex Fraser.  He talks about the opportunities and constraints offered by the commission to project landscape the grounds a new school build, and he focusses on Lydiard Millicent CE VC Primary School.  For more information about our landscape design, visit:
http://www.afla.co.uk/ED/lydiad.html

For information about Learning through Landscapes, visit: 
http://www.ltl.org.uk/

www.afla.co.uk UPDATES

Our website has been updated and features some of our exciting new projects.  Visit http://www.afla.co.uk/NEW/beauch.html for details, specifically relating to Hatherlow House, Kenilworth Road and Windmill House. 

We have also updated our Housing projects (http://www.afla.co.uk/HO/bouncers.html) and Parks & Open Space projects (http://www.afla.co.uk/PA/ashton.html).

Hatherlow House, Southport

Proposals have been prepared for a new care development in Southport, Lancashire.  The new home is in a Victorian suburb of villas and large houses, with the beautiful Hesketh Park lying opposite the site.  Our scheme includes trees and planting inspired by the park and also selected to cope with the maritime location.  Monterey pines and cypress will be planted on the boundaries, whilst below we are aiming to create small enclosed, sheltered gardens for the residents.

55 plus living in Oxfordshire

We have completed proposals for a new 55 plus development in Oxfordshire.  The gardens include a formal pleached hornbeam avenue with sculpture and water feature.  High quality paving will be used for the sensitive site in the heart of the Cotswolds.  

Below are some photos as exisitng and proposed landscapes.

Poppy fields

Right now is a good time to see Poppies in arable fields.  These were snapped near Bath.

Kelston Park, Bath

We went for an evening walk this week, along the River Avon near Bath.  On our bank, there is a large arable field, whilst on the opposite bank, there is Kelston Park.  The grounds of the Park were laid out by Capability Brown in 1767-68 and are now home to much wildlife.  On our walk, we spotted a barn owl hunting over a meadow.  On other days, I have seen deer among the trees and otters swimming along the river.  When we reached the furthest point of our walk, we saw a large wild boar thunder between two patches of woodland – we were surprised at how quickly they can run.  At the end of the walk, right at dusk, we saw the bats swooping low over the river, by Newbridge.  A magical evening.

Wild Play at Knowle Park Primary School

The Wild Play Garden tender has been returned within budget and work will be starting in the summer on drainage, a rain garden, a pond, footpaths and raised beds.  Here is the site befoe work starts - truely a blank and damp canvass.

Housing at Gill Avenue and Hungerford Road

We have recently completed designs for some housing schemes in Bristol, being built to Code for Sustainable Homes Standard.  The schemes are fairly simple but include wildlife habitats, wildlife attracting flowers, shrubs and trees.

Reading Garden for primary school

We have just some sketch proposals for an outdoor reading room at Hillcrest Primary School.  The project is at feasibility stage and we prepared three options for the school to consider.  Initial ideas came from school children and included shelter, cushions, water, greenery, shade, beanbags, log seating, blankets, heater, decorations.   All these things need rain cover and our favourite proposal is for a cloister (inspired by Dickens’ novel ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’) around a central artificial grass area.  

Blackbirds nesting in the garden

For the last two weeks a pair of blackbirds have been building a nest outside our kitchen window. The birds are in a dense japanese honeysuckle, hidden from the local cats, magpies and crows, I hope.  Until this year, the honeysuckle has not been dense enough to hide a nest, but now there is a tangled mas of branches and leaves.  Rightly or wrongly, I have put one of the mobile cat scarers in the blueberry bed below the nest site.  I'd hate to see some overfed moggy run off with the nestlings.

Further down the garden (which is only small) a pair of wrens are nesting in the ivy by the shed.  The wildlife value of the garden has increased so much since we moved in 10 years ago.  There are over 20 fruiting trees or shrubs, there is a small pond, a shed with a planted roof, flowers and berry plants, native ferns.  All in a plot 6x15m.  I'll do a blog soon on the growth of the garden.

Woodland school at Arnos Vale, Bristol

We have been working on an idea for a small woodland school at the local Victorian cemetery.  The idea is to get more people into Arnos Vale Cemetery, which is located close to the centre of Bristol.  A woodland school will provide a location for teaching and practical work with young people.  Activities such as  green woodworking, woodland management and nature exploration will be centred around a shelter, woodyard and new accessible wildlife habitats.  The sketch below shows our inititial ideas, which have yet to be approved by the Trust.

Arnos Vale is an amazing landscape to visit, with something for everyone.  There is an absolute treasure trove of history, with many prominent Bristol people buried there in Victorian mausoleum.  There are war graves of many nationalities, as poor seaman injured at sea sadly died in local hospitals.  There are areas of ancient woodland, woodland flowers, reptiles, butterflies, rare lichens on grave stones, many birds, including buzzards, owls and sparrowhawks, there are badgers, foxes and rumours of deer. 
There are lots of events as well - for more information, go to www.arnosvale.org.uk

Bristol Avon clean up

Every time I go fishing I pick up litter and plastic bottles. It's depressing. However inspired by clean up campaigns on other rivers, I have decided to get something going on our own Bristol Avon. I fish the river fairly regularly at Newbridge, downstream of Bath. It is good fishing, in a very pretty landscape, with lots of wildlife - otter, boar, deer, water rail, wildfowl and more. But the banks are marred by litter and the place deserves better. So today, my girls and I made a start and managed to fill our rubble bags with plastic bottles from just three spots. We collected over 200 drinks and energy bottles, plus about 30 larger bottles, 2 oil containers (one still with oil, but no lid - nice), 10 or so gas canisters, 5 beer cans and 6 glass bottles. The girls were brilliant and want to go again, with some more help because I can assure you, 7 bags weigh alot and we dragged them about a kilometre back to the van. With the exception of the oil containers, we recycled the lot at Tescos. If you'd like to help, leave a comment or email me through our web site www.afla.co.uk. Birds will be nesting soon, so a 'deep clean' will be impractical but we hope to do another session this spring.

New web pages

We have just updated our website with four new projects - click on the following links to find out more:

http://www.afla.co.uk/EL/yarnton.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/EL/cheltenham.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/HO/woodland.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/NEW/beauch.html

Gores Marsh Park, Bristol

Over the last few years, we have worked with the Gores Marshalls and Bristol City Council on developing Gores Marsh. One a fairly featureless recreation ground, the park is now more marsh like, with accessible paths, a big dog free play area, wetland trees and beds of canary grass for children to explore. Our website (www.afla.co.uk) has photos of the park and a design history. For further information, please visit: http://www.afla.co.uk/CH/gores.html . 

Here is a video filmed today in the early morning light.

Blackthorn in the hedges, panic on the drawing board

The rate of change in the landscape this spring seems incredibly fast.  So fast, that my pencil and pen can barely keep up.  A few weeks ago, before the clocks changed, we enjoyed a trip down to the coast of Somerset, at the edge of the Quantocks.  Our journey from Bristol took us around the edge of the Mendips, still gripped by winter, and over the Levels, showing signs of spring.  Most striking was all the blossom on blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), contrasting nicely with lush new growth in the fields and the first bright green leaves of hawthorn.  White lambs gambolled across the meadows and swans patrolled the ditches between.  All so pleasing that I had to record in a sketch the essence of what I had seen.  With work committments and our madly hot weather, I have had barely time to finish the colouring as the blackthorn blossom, round here at least, is going past it's best.   Already the cherry blossom is out, amongst many other changes.  So much to see, draw and write about.  I may not be able to keep up.

Magnolia at Westonbirt Arboretum

We visited Westonbirt Arboretum last weekend, to enjoy the fine weather and meet up with friends blowing in from all four points of the compass.  Our previous visits have been in autumn, to admire the colourful leaves of the amazing maple collection.  Westonbirt is also a place to visit in Spring, as it is home to cherries, azalea and many fantastic magnolia trees.  The magnolia in flower are worth the entry price alone.  With sunshine and blue skies, the whole family were transported somewhere exotic and by the end of the day, we all felt as though we had been on holiday.  Relaxed and fulfilled.

Sustainable drainage at Knowle Park Primary

We are just about to start work on drainage and hard landscape design for a new play and allotment garden at Knowle Park Primary.  Last year we designed and obtained planning permission for the garden.  The ground has since been enclosed, slow worms excluded and the ground cleared.  We are now looking to drain the site into a series of planted rain gardens and a wildlife pond.  The photo of the model shows our intentions for the site.

School reading garden

We're currently working on a reading garden for our local primary school.  It's early days yet and the school is developing ideas with the school council.  To help the children visualise the space and play with ideas, we made a simple scale model.  We're looking forward to seeing what ideas the children have had and making them real.

Wood anemone at Park Copse

We visited the lovely River Chew at Compton Dando for a Mother's Day picnic.  The location is a favourite destination for many people, blessed as it is with tranquility, wildlife and scenery.  The river has trout, grayling, roach, dace, chub and millions of minnows.  They all feed on the mayfly that hatch later in spring.  In turn, the fish are eaten by otters that visit the valley.   The lush green pastures are home to plants like cuckoo flower (or lady's smock) and the diggingd of rabbit and badger are easy to spot in the banks.  We often see deer along the edge of the field and yesterday we followed two that fled across the river.   The children were excited to find fresh hoof prints in the river gravel.  They then spotted and collected many dark bones from drowned sheep and cattle, washed down into the river gravel.  The prize find was a cattle horn.

Above the river there is an ancient woodland called Park Copse and Peppershells Wood. It is filled with wildflowers and the first flower to show in spring is the delicate wood anemone, closely followed by wild garlic and bluebell. Whilst we lingered over our picnic, the children explored the wood and came back stinking of garlic.  In May, the valley is filled with the scent of the bluebells that carpet the woodland. Well worth a visit.

Ash poles for school ground project

My colleague Shaun and I recently prepared about 50 ash poles for Knowle Park Primary school, where we have created a natural building area, complete with a robinia framed eey-ore shelter.  The ash poles came from Arnos Vale Cemetery, courtesy of Nick Bull the landscape manager and were selected to be big enough to form a frame shelter but also heavy enough to dissuade children from mis-using the poles.

We removed all the side branches and smoothed out any sharp edges.  Hopefully, the children will now be able to make their own dens using natural materials rather than plastic stuff. The photo below is the eey-ore shelter frame, made by Children's Playground Company, out of robinia wood.

New Project section

We have just launched a 'New Project' portfolio section.  Visit our website for details of exciting and engaging schemes that we are currently working on:
http://www.afla.co.uk/NEW/broad.html

Wild daffodils

Is there a prettier sight in Spring than wild daffodils?
These were planted near the Mansion car park at Ashton Court Estate in Bristol.

Visit our website for details about the rose garden at Ashton Court, which also now shows video footage from this delightful enclosed space.
http://www.afla.co.uk/PA/ashton.html

Purdown – travelling back 1000 years through time, in half an hour

After visiting and surveying some Sustainable Home sites in Lockleaze, Bristol, my colleague and I walked over to Purdown, an open space managed by Bristol City Council. 

Purdown is a ridge of high ground that runs on a south-west to north east direction, from Eastville near Bristol’s centre out to Harry Stoke outside the city. It is a fascinating place to visit, with an unexpected wealth of history and wildlife.  As a ridge landform, it is an open space of at least two halves.  There are views to the North towards Horfield, Redland and Southmead, with the construction cranes rising above the new super hospital.  On the afternoon we visited, it was very quiet, with hardly any traffic noise.

However, travel just 100m over the ridge, and the noise of the M32 fills the air, even if the wind is at your back and blowing the noise away.   In compensation, the views on this side of the ridge are more interesting, taking in Frenchay & Stapleton (originally a Saxon village), Oldbury Court, the Dower House and associated 18^th century parkland that were originally part of the Forest of Kingswood.

More recent elements in the landscape include Second World War anti-aircraft gun emplacements – the legendary  ‘Purdown Percy’, which is now a scheduled ancient monument.  The adjacent housing estate was built in 1948.  The M32 was built between 1966 and 1975.  The BT telecoms tower, unusually built of concrete, was finished in 1970.  The triangular roof profile of the hospital at Southmead will form a new landmark. 

The ridge is covered in ancient woodland, scrub and grassland.  Stoke Park was recently acquired by the Council and scrub management has commenced over the semi-natural grassland (at least one indicator are the many anthills visible under the scrub).  I believe that cattle are to be introduced to control re-growth of the scrub. 

As a place to see evidence of how our city has changed, and continues to change, it is a fantastic place to visit.

Red kites

Last week I drove to Oxford for a project meeting and on the way I passed three red kites circling a dead badger on the road.  The red kite was re-introduced the Chilterns and are now spreading further afield.  I have now seen them on the outskirts of Swindon and hopefully we’ll see them scavenging over Bristol.  The red kite has a very distinctive tail and their graceful, often low level flight pattern makes them a wonderful addition to our landscape.  

Unwanted catches

We are on the cusp of spring.  The first green shoots are appearing in the hedges and under the woods, the snow drops are out and the birds are singing loud in the tree tops.  All of last year’s leaves have withered and died back, fallen to the floor, to reveal the bare bones of the landscape.  Now is the time to spot deer against the green shoots of wheat or notice stately homes through the bare trees.  Sadly, the bare earth also reveals litter and fishing debris along the river bank.  Not all rubbish is dropped by anglers – I find a lot of energy drink bottles downstream from Bath.  I now remove and recycle as much as I can carry on each trip.  Fishing line is retrieved where possible and binned after cutting into harmless bits.  I keep anything useful, such as floats, weights and lures.  Eventually, I hope to see the bank clean from plastic, though this will take time.

Snow

Our family enjoyed the recent snow as much as we could, though the children wished for more than the scant millimetres that covered our city.  On one of my regular site visits, I drove past the Marlborough Downs, a day or two after the snow fall.  Most of the snow had gone, except for north facing pockets and depressions high on the hills. Here the snow revealed subtle landforms that are normally too small to be seen from a distance.  I saw paths, plough lines, ancient hill forts, ditches and strip lynchets.  A day or so later, all the snow had melted and the downs returned to the grey green of winter grass.

Snow also reveals other things in the landscape.  A few days after passing the Downs, we headed to Norfolk for a winter holiday. As we drove east along the M4 and on to the M25, the snow fields re-appeared and we drove through a magical wintery landscape under a bright blue sky.  As we reached Essex, we noticed more and more wildlife in the fields, including many hares and partridges, silhouetted against the snow.  At Wangford Warren I spotted hundreds of rabbits in a single white field.  But on the way home a week later, the snow had melted and I failed to spot a single hare or rabbit along the same route.  The brown soil in ploughed fields and olive green of wintery grasslands provide perfect hiding places.

Frost in the valley

I experienced one of the coldest mornings I can remember a few weeks ago, when I rose before dawn and went to the Bristol Avon at Claverton, near Bath.  The sky was clear, the stars were out and there was a hard frost over everything, even on the inside of the car windscreen. Touching anything metal was painful. 

The colours of the river valley were washed out in the dawn and further muted by the covering of frost.  Mine were the first and only footsteps through the white meadow.  The weir at Claverton threw water droplets up into the air and these settled on the willows as a heavy hoar frost, so striking that a group of canal enthusiasts spent an age admiring the scene later that morning.  Willow branches trailing in the slower parts of the river had round fat icicles on them and the water froze into droplets on my braided line and in the rod rings.   Pistol shots rang out from ice settling in the frozen leat and mill pool, as water levels dropped.

The valley at Claverton is steep sided and clad in ancient woodland.  The sun barely reached the river bank by eleven, so preserved the wintery scene until long after the hill tops had thawed.   The woods remained in dark shadow for the entire morning.

I love these hard winter days, so long as I can get into the open air.  Most of the time the river banks are deserted and the veneer of frost transform’s dry vegetation and bare trees, albeit temporarily.

Commercial projects

We have just launched the new Commercial section on our website.  Check out the latest projects at:
http://www.afla.co.uk/CO/lockleaze.html

Website updates

It has been a very exciting time in the AFLA office; lots of new projects from parks and open spaces (Nether Stowey recreation ground in Somerset), elderly care (Lynwood in Ascot) and housing (Bouncers Lane, Cheltenham).  Our website has now been updated with project information - you can check these projects out by clicking on the following links:

http://www.afla.co.uk/HO/bouncers.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/CH/nether.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/EL/lynwood.html

and you can also download our most recent postcards too:

http://www.afla.co.uk/download.html

If you would like to receive a mailed postcard, please forward your contact details to:  kim@afla.co.uk

Severn cliffs

A couple of weekends ago, we visited Sedbury Cliffs in Gloucestershire. The cliffs are on the west bank of the River Severn, a mile or so north of the old Severn Bridge. The landscape encompasses all that one could wish to see, with natural, semi-natural and man-made elements of interest.  The Severn is tidal at this point and when ebbing or flowing, gallops by rapidly.  The swirls, currents and rips can’t have changed much ever, though change may come about if a barrage is built.  The cliffs are also relatively unchanged, eroding slowly into the river but clad now in Holm Oak as well as our own native oak and hazel.  On the bank, there is much evidence of the hand of man.  Ancient rotting timbers mark a jetty.  The Severn Bridge dominates the view to the south.  The east bank is dotted with large buildings, including nuclear installations at Oldbury and Berkeley.

Underfoot and overhead, the plants are interesting, even in the dead of winter. We walked over a grassy field, which looked green and firm but was in fact very heavy going, full of water filled pock marks from cattle. It was more marsh than field and more sea than marsh but the girls enjoyed skating along a silt path.  The grass gave way to reeds at the water edge and on that clear winter’s day, the tall stems shone yellow in the low light.  The reeds contrasted wonderfully with the dark green of the oak clad cliffs.

If the scenery was not enough for the senses, we also found many fossils in the limestone blocks that tumble down sporadically from the cliff.  Many of the ammonites we found were so worn and smooth that there was barely a suggestion of the spiral structure.  The ancient shells were more rewarding, bigger too, the size of a good Satsuma.  The fossils were not enough to keep the kids interested for long but they were pleased to find an excellent climbing tree stretching out over the beach.  Leaning but still alive, the tree had that wonderful springy quality of green wood, great for bouncing on.  I suspect that this time next year, the whole tree will have been ripped from the base of the cliff by the tides.

Winter sky

For a while, I thought that we might miss winter here in Bristol.  It has been fairly mild due to warm air pushed up from Africa and Southern Europe.  Out on the river banks I have noticed all the birds going bonkers, chasing each other, singing beautifully and generally behaving like spring is next week.

The other day, winter arrived again, with a cold wind and frost in the morning.  I snapped the photo below one evening, from the loft window.  A proper winter sunset, full of colour and taken in late afternoon, before the children even got home from school. 

Website updates

Our website has been updated with project details for Lynwood (Ascot), a new elderly care development in Berkshire.  Check out http://www.afla.co.uk/EL/lynwood.html for full details

Other projects - housing and children's play areas -  will be uploaded shortly.  More detailed news and pictures to follow.

Snowdrops flowering

In our garden here in Bristol, the snowdrops have been threatening to flower for a week or so.  Last week’s hard weather stalled their flowering but today’s mild air seems to have encouraged the flowers to open.

Out in the countryside, flowering is likely to be later this month and every year we try to visit a wood with lots of snowdrops.  I have found south facing slopes to be particularly good and such locations certainly flower earlier than more shaded north facing spots.

Seaside planning success

Last week we heard good news from two of our projects, both of which, coincidentally, are located by the seaside. 

Firstly, our landscape design for the Gara Rock development was passed by South Hams District Council.  The site is partially within the South Hams AONB and our design had to respect the local landscape and ecology, as well as creating pleasure gardens for hotel guests and visitors.  Our proposals aim to give visitors a concentrated experience of coastal plants and flowers, all set within a sheltering framework of Devon banks. 

The second project is a private residence in Clevedon, Somerset that overlooks the Bristol Channel, with views across the water as far as Cardiff and Barry.  The waters of the Channel are always changing due to tide, wind and cloud cover.  The views from the garden benefit from an elevated position, though this is a down side, as the exposure is enormous.

In fact, both sites are subject to high winds and salt spray, which will make the establishment of new plants problematic.  Our planning package included 15 year management plans to ensure that our original vision is achieved.  The challenge now is to get those plants growing.

The sketch (left) shows our concept at Gara for sheltered paths passing through overhanging hedging - how long will that take to establish?  Locally distinctive thrift, crown vetch, bluebells and foxgloves will be planted into the hedge banks, as well as interesting little plants such as navelwort and stonecrop.

Winter Pattern

The mild November and December ended with heavy rains and wild winds.  In the wake of the extreme weather, new patterns were left behind in the landscape, to replace the colourful fabric of autumn.

On the river bank, leaves, straw, branches and human debris were left high and dry by the floods, many metres above the now clear low water.  The thatch of debris points horizontally downstream but won’t last long. Straw and twigs are carried away by rooks and crows and only the plastic rubbish will remain come springtime.

Under foot ripples of rich silt cover bank and field.  Footprints of water birds lead to and from the water but otter footprints seem to run parallel with the river.  Sometimes, the remains of their meals can be found high and dry.  Last winter I found the head and tail of a small jack pike.  This winter I found the heads and tails of spent salmon on the banks of the Wye.  I have the dried head in our little museum of natural history.  The salmon were left to decay.

These patterns of debris are temporary.  The grass grows lush through the silt, fed by nutrients borne by the river.  Strand lines of leaves are dragged below ground by earthworms.    Bones get gnawed and dragged away by God knows what.  Come summer, the scene will be a picture of pastoral heaven.

In the woods, the last lingering leaves were blown away, stripping the billowing cushions to lines of vertical grey trunks.  Young ash trees are particularly striking because of their smooth bark.  With low winter light, the structure and framework of trees can be seen and appreciated.

What happened to the River Kennet?

As an avid angler, I am drawn, hypnotically, to the sight or suggestion of water. A row of willows or alder trees may signify a ditch or a stream or river.  A group of willows may be merely a damp spot or a lake.  Each indication has to be explored.

Before Christmas, I visited the beautiful village of Manton near Marlborough.  From the Ordnance Survey map I knew the River Kennet ran through the village and having fished the river downstream at Kintbury and at Aldermarston, I was keen to see what the upper river looked like.

I was shocked by what I found.

I have read about the effect water abstraction has had on rivers in the south and have seen ‘winterbournes’ dry in the summer, but nothing prepared me for the sad sight of the river bed.  Not a single drop of water.  No rivulet running.  No water weeds. No insects.  No trout or minnows hovering in crystal clear water.  Just rocks and old bricks and a ‘private fishing’ left high, dry and irrelevant.  Scandalous.

The cause of the problem appears to be excessive abstraction from the underground aquifer that feeds the river.  Ultimately, poor and inefficient use of water can be to blame.

Who knows what the duration of the problem will be. There may be no permanent return to flowing water in this part of the Kennet and it will become a ‘Winterbourne’, flowing only after a winter of rain and disappearing again in summer.

Some solutions that we can do as individuals are anything to reduce water consumption.  In the garden we can collect and use rainwater, we can spread mulches over our soils to help the ground absorb water and reduce evaporation from soil in summer, we can use low water demand plants and lawns.  We should stop laying driveways that are impermeable.

There are campaigns to raise awareness:

 Go to http://www.riverkennet.org/threats_abstraction.php for more information

http://www.wildtrout.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129&Itemid=185

Bristol Water has a number of good tips on how to save water:

http://www.bristolwater.co.uk/environment/waterSavingIntro.asp

The Guardian covered the issue in December:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/18/river-kennet-dry-john-betjeman

Winter colour

Like many people this Christmas, we spent time on the roads, visiting relatives and friends. My wife and I share the driving, which gives me time to look at the landscape outside.   

One of the things that I love about this time of year, deep mid-winter, is that almost all of the old leaves are gone from the trees the hedges. The bones of the landscape are laid bare for all to see. On cloudy days, the colours of the woods and trees are muted to a range of browns, with shades purple from dormant buds or old berries.

Beneath the trees there are swathes of orange of dead bracken tops. Occasionally, there is a real splash of colour from fallen apples, collected at the base of trees. On our journey, we saw yellow piles of wild apples in the countryside, but also red apples in built up areas.

All disappear by spring, eaten and covered up by grass and vegetation.