Guided nature friendly farm walk
Join Director of Land Management, Simon Atkinson, for a special guided farm walk this January.
The guided walk will follow a newly created nature friendly farming route that has been designed to expand the area that visitors to Earth Trust can explore. The new path takes walkers through a diverse range of habitats and farmed areas to allow visitors to see first-hand the benefits of adopting nature friendly farming principles for nature, soil health, farm productivity and heritage.
Simon will share details on key parts of the project so far:
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The new chalk grassland meadow
Hand-sown with wildflower seeds, earlier in the year, hear about how the area we call ‘Bessie’s Field’, at the base of Wittenham Clumps and next to the Iron Age hillfort at Castle Hill will be transformed into a habitat rich in biodiversity, colour and life. This former arable field is being restored into a chalk grassland, (one of Oxfordshire’s rarest and most valuable habitats).
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Agroforestry
Trees in a farmed landscape have many benefits from improving soil, to helping to improve farm productivity. See the nearly 150 fruit trees and over 50 nut trees recently planted into wildflower strips within one of the farms arable fields.
Hear also about the benefits of planting parkland trees within pasture fields.
This nature friendly farming walk will also showcase improvements to the farm orchard and future for further wildflower meadows.
The new nature-friendly farming route is part of the Partnerships for Nature programme which is led by the North Wessex Downs National Landscape funded by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)‘s Species Survival Fund, and administered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
This project is also funded by the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment.
We are very grateful for the support from our funders.
The footpath opens officially to the public later in 2026- this walk is an early chance to see and hear from our in-house expert on the work in field and our vision for a farm with abundant biodiversity.
Event details
Date: Saturday 17th January
Time: 11am-1pm
Location: Earth Trust Centre
Price: Free of charge. Numbers are limited to 15 and tickets are first come first served.
