A Week on the Estate: Getting Summery, Coronation Planting & Celebrating Hedgerows

It’s currently National Hedgerow Week and we’re always up for celebrating hedgerows, the connective tissue of our beautiful countryside. They host a spellbinding and vital abundance of wildlife; 80% of woodland birds can’t get by without them. They also connect us to our ancient past and will help us tackle climate-change.

South Ormsby Estate had far more living field boundaries in 1888. In the 130 years to 2018, 170 fields became 96 and many hedgerows were lost, a change typical of the age of mechanisation. According to Hedgelink, there are 500,000 miles of hedgerow in the UK, making it a diminished but indispensable natural habitat.

We’re determined to reverse this trend. We’ve added more than 7km of new hedgerow to this tally since 2019 and we’re still going. Each new sapling we plant benefits from a weed-suppressant mat and a spiral to protect it from hungry grazers until it’s established. Used canes and spirals are later recovered and re-used on new plantings.

Within a decade, a typical hedgerow will have established itself and grown to around 12’ tall. It will brim with life and make a fine shelter for our native-breed Lincoln Red cattle from brisk easterly winds.  The species making up our hedgerows include hornbeam, hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, hazel, common dogwood, dog rose and crab apple. To find out more, including tips on planting your own hedges, click HERE.

Time has whizzed by and we’re just one week away from the Estate Open Weekend (20th & 21st May) that will kick-start the Lincolnshire Wolds Outdoor Festival and our very own programme of Estate tours. The Lincolnshire Wolds AONB has just marked its 50th anniversary and it’s emphatically worth celebrating.

We’ve been bowled over by the number of knowledgeable, skilled and passionate Wolds people keen to share their talents with our lovely visitors. The Estate Open Weekend will feature laser clay shooting, art lessons, stream-dipping, fly-casting, bike-riding, bird rambles, butterfly safaris, photography, storytelling, tall-tree tales, Turkish dancing, history talks and more.

Don’t shilly-shally – peruse our programme HERE, get your entry ticket HERE, book your lunch HERE and jump in!

We’ll see you out there.

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