Words
Tom Stone
Category
Land
Published
Fernwood has never been ploughed. We wanted to keep it that way, so the first residents we moved in were bees.
An unploughed meadow holds far more than grass: knapweed, yellow rattle, bird’s-foot trefoil and orchids in a good year. Six hives now stand along the top hedge, kept by a beekeeper from the village.
Cut once, late
We cut the meadow once, in late summer, after the flowers have set seed. Mown paths join the homes, and everything else is left long.
Each owner gets a jar of Fernwood honey every autumn. It tastes faintly of clover.
“Eighty per cent of the land stays as meadow, and the bees do most of the work.”
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