Other Sites

Above: repairing a dry stone wall at Swerford

Although most of our work is carried out at different sites in Chipping Norton itself, since the group was founded in 2012, we have volunteered at a considerable number of places outside the town.

– In the park off Browning Road, Banbury, we dug holes for tree planting and helped plant up the trees.
– On the farm at Bloxham School, we did some coppicing and hedge-laying and prepared ground for tree planting.
– In Charlbury, we were asked to tidy up the borders at the local school (and within Chipping Norton, similar work is done at St Mary’s school).

– The areas around two surviving “Banqueting Houses” in the grounds of the former site of the Manor House at Chipping Campden, destroyed in the Civil War, benefitted from weeding and the clearance of scrub.

– At Enstone, we revamped the grass paths on the allotments and raised their water tank.

– In Evenlode, a plot of land donated for the creation of the small Vessell Wood was cleared of scrub,  newly planted whips and saplings were tended, and channels dug to improve drainage.

– Work at the village school in Great Rollright focussed on tidying up an overgrown area in the grounds and we have also cleared scrub at the mystical prehistoric site of the Rollright Stones, a “dark skies” spot frequented by star gazers.

– In Hook Norton, we have cleared along a stream, worked in the cemetery, removed bramble bushes from a green and removed hedging at the local Surgery to assist local volunteers planning to install raised beds and plant them with edible herbs.  On a stretch of the old railway line, we have helped maintain a Site of Special Scientific Interest, known as Hook Norton Cutting. An ongoing long-term task is the removal of tree guards in a large area of woodland established by the Woodland Trust. This includes an area not far from the celebrated Hook Norton Brewery which is appropriately called Ale Wood.

– At  Kingham Millennium Wood we have, over the years, cleared a grassy area with a seat, removed vegetation from a pond, kept open the network of paths and felled some diseased ash trees. We planted bulbs, including bluebells, and in a couple of areas put in apple trees which have largely established well.
– The grounds of the Village Hall at Over Norton benefitted from our clearance work to increase the usable space.
– Finally, volunteers enjoyed repairing dry stone walling alongside public footpaths at a beautiful spot in Swerford, Ash Hill Farm.

Today, we also work near Church Enstone, at a corner site by the junction of the B4030 Bicester road and the B4022 to Great and Little Tew. Here we lay and otherwise maintain the hedges adjoining the two roads.

Not far from this site, along the B4030 lies the hamlet of Gagingwell, where we work removing sedge from a pond and the course of the stream running downhill from it.

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