The Meadowlands

The Meadowlands is a 200-acre mosaic of woodland and grassland where the Golden Valley meets the Black Mountains. The core of the site is a 100-acre rewilding area which began in 2023. Here we are working to establish scrubby wood pasture through very low intensity grazing with native breed cattle, as well as pigs from 2025. These fields are currently our least diverse. Previously managed for silage, they were reseeded and fertilised at some point in the past. We hope to see bramble, hawthorn, and blackthorn spill out of the hedgerows and provide the shelter needed by trees to establish. The resulting wood pasture will certainly be more diverse than the improved grassland, and will particularly benefit birds and invertebrates.

A separate 35-acre block is being rewilded towards a closed-canopy woodland. Rewilding in the lowlands typically focuses on wood pasture, and this early successional environment supports a lot of wildlife. But there are also many species that prefer the late successional habitat of a closed-canopy woodland. We are attempting to establish the woodland through natural colonisation instead of tree planting. This means excluding grazing, managing deer and squirrel pressures, and leaving the field to transition naturally towards woodland. The area we've selected is next to an ancient woodland, so there should be plenty of seed source nearby. It will be a longer journey but should result in a more resilient, naturalistic, and less carbon-intensive outcome.

Elsewhere at The Meadowlands we are following more traditional conservation practices. We are managing 30 acres of species rich grassland through hay-making and seasonal grazing. These are our most diverse fields, and we expect seeds to spread into the less diverse rewilding fields with the movement of cattle. We also have 25 acres of semi-natural woodland, about half of which is ancient. Here we are working to create a ride through the woods to allow more light to benefit the ground flora and woodland fauna. We also still intend to manage hedgerows, albeit on a longer cycle, until enough scrub has developed within fields to replace them. Meanwhile we’re gradually adding ponds throughout the site.

It’s great to be part of the Wye Valley Wilding Network to learn from others, collaborate, and feel connected with a movement.

To learn more, visit our website (link to add: www.themeadowlands.co.uk) or take a look on our Instagram (link to add: www.instagram.com/themeadowlands_).