Safari and Tea at the Plat

 The previous day had been overcast; the following day was the hottest of the year but the day of the Safari was very nice indeed.  But it was clearly a bit too hot for some - or else there was just too much going on on that particular weekend -  as the turnout of walkers and cyclists was not great.

Volunteers and, in some cases, owners were stationed at each plat where signs had been strategically placed indicating the way to go.

Badgers' Plat on the footpath near Stone Street

Waiting

On duty outside Bewley House Plat

                                                                But cyclists did appear and this family visited three plats,

 before arriving for well-earned tea at the Mote plat.

When it came to the Tea and Cakes the numbers, not surprisingly, improved.  The gazebo and tables, on loan from Ightham Mote, looked decorative and provided welcome shade. At four o'clock the visitors began to arrive for tea and cakes and a good crowd assembled. 

The array of cakes, home-baked by the Nutters was varied and delicious. Fruit cakes, brownies, lemon drizzle and sponge cakes.....

Some visitors came from as far afield as London and the youngest of the walkers was aged six.

It turned out to be a  relaxed and sociable occasion with visitors admiring the plat and taking an interest in the display of photos that showed the progress of restoration work so far.  On display also were letters from schoolchildren who had visited during the year as well as old maps of the plat dating back to 1871.  Visitors were most generous in their donations to the ongoing work and the afternoon raised a good sum which will go towards the autumn and winter work.









FOOTNOTE!
Readers of country lifestyle magazines can find our plat featured in the August issue of 'Country Homes and Interiors' where their regular item, 'My Kind Of Country',  features GJ at home, on the plat, at the Shipbourne Farmers Market and elsewhere, complete with beautiful photography of all these familiar places.

Cobnut Plats Safari

 On July 21st we'll be holding a fund-raising event for on-going work on the plat.  Details are below including telephone and phone number for further information and a map.

           Ightham Mote Plat:- Restoration Walk

           Please contact Gillian Jones for more details or just turn up

           Email: snow.drops@yahoo.co.uk Telephone: 01732 761 466           

Join us for an afternoon of walking or cycling from 1pm on Sunday 21^st July

visiting the beautiful cobnut orchards (plats) of TN15 AND TN11

-   Ightham, Ivy Hatch, Stone Street, Plaxtol   -

Start your walk anywhere, finish anywhere and visit as many or as few as you like.

Then join us for Tea and Cakes from 4pm at Ightham Mote Plat in Ivy Hatch

A number of private and commercial properties have opened up their plats for you to visit and learn a little bit about the history of Cob Nuts in the area. A number will have their owners or a volunteer present to provide some background.

We suggest a minimum donation of £5 (Under 10’s go free) and any sponsorship money you raise towards the project. This can be donated to any of the volunteers or at the Ightham Mote Plat

Please help us estimate numbers by letting Gillian know if you intend to join us  - or you can still just turn up

To receive a map please email: snow.drops@yahoo.co.uk

A          Ightham Mote Plat             The Restoration Project               

                      1300 Cobb Nut trees planted 100-150 years ago over Approx. 8 Acres leased from the National Trust and in the process of being restored by local volunteers. Open on request for School visits and outdoor activity days.  There will be Tea and Cakes available between 4pm and 5pm and a tour of the plat and a talk on the restoration project and local wild flowers.

                      Access            Access by foot or cycle only via farm track off High Cross Road and through right-hand gate.  Follow line of trees down to the open space and the shed at the bottom of the plat.

                      Guide              Gillian Jones

B          The Dell  Private Residential Plat
Ancient plat at the beginning of the restoration process

                      Access            From Stone Street – take track marked (footpath no. MR425) do not take the drive way for Dell House. The path will lead past the Plat (aprox. 300m). The path then drops very steeply down to Mote Road. The reverse route is also possible

                      Guide              Juliette Evans

C          Bewley Lane House           Private Residential Plat
A traditional plat hidden away down a quiet lane. Organically cultivated and with a variety of interesting flora.

                      Access           Signs will be posted on the day

                      Guide              Owner/volunteer

D          Cob Orchard          Private Residential Plat

                      A small traditional plat with 57 fine old trees, incorporated into a garden setting

                      Access            Signs will be posted on the day

                      Guide              Volunteer

E          Beech Tree Cottage           Private Residential Plat
The Plat was probably planted about 200 years ago when the house was built to provide a cash crop for the tenants.

                      Access            Turn left along Sandy Lane from Coach Road. Beech Tree Cottage is about 50 yards on the right after the white sided bungalow

                      Guide              Carole or Richard Holden

F          Oldbury Farm House         Private Residential Plat
Traditional old cobnut plat, cared for organically, with ‘Pick Your Own’ available at harvest time.

                      Access            Follow Common Road across the A25 and onto Spring Lane
Turn left at the end of Spring Lane onto Oldbury Lane and then first right (50m). Oldbury Farm House is on the right

                      Guide              Dr Meg Game

G         Badgers Plat          Private Commercial Plat
Commercially run plat, planted within the last two decades, with nuts harvested annually for Cob Nut oil and other specialist products.

                      Access            From Stone Street – take track marked on the map (footpath no. SR126). The plat is at the top of the hill on the left before the path drops very steeply for about 500m onto Mote Road. The reverse route is also possible

                      Guide              Jonathan Green

Of bean poles and other matters

Thinking up new ways to raise funds is a challenge and more are needed for the summer maintenance, especially mowing and keeping the brambles under control.  Fortunately a large quantity of hazel rods had been put aside and advertisements for bean poles, placed in parish magazines, allotment notice-boards and general word of mouth all helped. We sold a good few bundles raising about £100.

Our first customer was an Ivy Hatch resident.

collecting beanpoles at the end of

No sign of spring but the sun is shining

Our next customer, from Plaxtol, needs the hazel rods not for growing beans up
but for her foundation
year art and design project.
She decided that the young wands
would also be ideal

Dad lends a hand

We  were delighted to welcome a second group of students from K College on the last two Tuesdays of April.  They arrived in the College mini-bus and pitched in with enthusiasm.

Tutors from K college

Building the bonfire

We were so lucky with the weather on both occasions and were able to enjoy potatoes baked in the embers of the bonfire, well-buttered and smothered with grated cheese and baked beans.  Excellent!

We are grateful to the K College students and their tutors.  With their help we were able to complete almost all of the clearing and burning of the accumulated winter's work.  We hope they will join in again next autumn when the work starts again. 

  

One more 'Nutters'  morning got the pile of holly alongside High Cross Road cleared away, then it was back to 'wanning' again.

Fortunately we had the most perfect spring day this week and got through another of couple of rows.

Spring At Last!

As I write this in May the flowers on the plat are in full bloom.

Primroses between the rows

Carpets of violets

Bluebells in the woods

April was a busy month, with two school visits. First to come was Shipbourne Primary.

  

SHIPBOURNE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Teachers, classroom assistants and  helper Mums accompanied the entire school - all 56 of them - Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children.  I was especially pleased to welcome them as my own children are 'old boys' of this school and I have fond memories of that happy time.

The children arrived on a damp and misty morning

They split into groups to visit six different points on the plat for a variety of activities and exploration  guided by a volunteer.  The children joined in the activities with enthusiasm.

At the end of the morning the children were ready for their packed lunches.....

 And the volunteers lined up for a photo-opportunity.

Then it was time to leave

....and there was plenty of energy left for a run down the hill....

....before setting off on foot for a muddy walk, past Ightham Mote and across the fields to Shipbourne.

The teachers reported that all returned safely, tired - especially the little ones - but happy with their day.  The children sent lovely thank you letters and told us about the things they had enjoyed most on their day at the plat.

IGHTHAM SCHOOL

Later the same week we welcomed  'Chestnut Class' 

from Ightham Primary School, children of Key Stage 1.

Susanne, who designed worksheets and guidance notes for both school visits, had the children fascinated by mini-beasts, fungi and rabbit holes.

 


The children from both schools collected treasures and trophies which included nuts that had been nibbled by mice or squirrels - and by the end of the morning the children could tell the difference.  For some children the experience of weaving a bug hotel with Tony was the highlight of the day, for others it was finding a hawk-moth with Penny,  looking at spiders' webs and a wasps' nest with Carole or making a guess at the number of nut trees on the plat with Richard. We think they all found something interesting and memorable to give a special bond with the natural world.

Look what I found!

Counting heads!

Soon it was time to line up and count heads before returning to school and we hope they will come again!

A SAMPLE OF THE THANK-YOU LETTERS AND DRAWINGS FROM THE CHILDREN

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LETTERS!

Thanks also, and especially, to Susanne for preparing the ground for the visits with guidance notes, worksheets and activities. They are resources which we now hold for use and adaptation for future school visits.  

Winter 2013 Continues

Despite what the weather threw at us much work was completed on the plat between the end of January and the end of March.  The main task of cutting out and clearing willow, birch and ash saplings had been completed but the back-aching job of 'wanding' i.e. cutting out the young wands, remained. New wands grow each year but they had done so with renewed vigour following the hard cutting back last year.  The Ightham Mote Garden Team and their volunteers  joined with us on the task but  it takes a long time to clear just a few rows by hand: 

'White-out'

 Snow arrived and stopped work,                   

                                                                      

.... turning the site into a white wilderness.

In February the professional pruners were at work again top-pruning those trees which had not been done last year.

With pruning saw ....

.... and secateurs

The catkin is out and a good showing of the tiny red stars, the female flowers which produce the nuts.  It was good to have a few fine dry and sunny days when the pollen from the catkins could drift and pollinate.

The tiny, star-like red flowers will produce nuts

In fact the great show of catkin on the plat is less important than the pollen that comes from the wild hazel in the hedgerows and from those pollinators growing among the cobnuts, because the variety we grow here, the 'Kent Cob' - also known as 'Lambert's Filbert' - is not self-fertile and needs the pollen from other varieties or from wild hazels, to produce a crop of nuts. 

Variety 'Kent Cob (or 'Lambert's Filbert) is not self-fertile;

....it relies on pollen from  hedgerow hazels or pollinators

A great show of catkin

. 

A wild hazel pollinator on the plat

With plenty of female flowers this season we can only hope that conditions were right and for long enough, to produce a crop in August/September.  That will also depend on conditions in forthcoming months as well.

Bean poles ready for the garden

     

A quantity of strong, straight wands have been rescued from burning. They  will be made up into bundles to be sold as poles for runner beans to grow up, at gardening and allotment societies and to keen gardeners -  raising funds for the summer work of mowing.

Will it light?

Burning up the debris of birch and willow was carried out in February and into March. 

Although snow again intervened it did not hold up the work unduly.

The bonfire takes off despite snowy conditions

Most of the wanding still remains to be done and in the third week of March help is on hand again from the National Trust.  The Trust runs Working Holidays - formerly known as 'Acorn Camps',when volunteers

spend a week working on projects.  This time they offered us a day out of their week and turned up in good time.  

Team leader and volunteers on their 'working holiday'

Wanding is not the most exciting task but they took to it cheerfully and got through a good number of rows whilst taking a keen interest in the history of the plat and the cultivation of cobnuts in Kent.  They made a terrific contribution and hopefully will have taken away some new knowledge and interest from their day.

Most of the trees which were top-pruned last year have not had the treatment again this year with the exception of the lower bloc of young trees which I've taken on as a pet project to try to re-shape them into the traditional 'open goblet'  structured style.

Pruning with secateurs

.... and with pruning saw

Blue flag shows the next tree to be done

At the top of the plat the estate's Ranger and his team have provided a new fence to replace the old and, in some places, non-existent one alongside High Cross Road. 

There will soon also be a new gate to replace the old one.

At the end of March we are still - despite the date - enduring bitterly cold winter weather.  Some primroses have bravely started to show their flowers....

Testing the air?

....not risking it

....while others are keeping a low profile. 

I'm hoping for warmer conditions after Easter when we look forward to welcoming two school parties on separate days.  More of that in April.