The National Trust are also on Haslehurst Lane. Just opposite the farm buildings, buried in a hedge is a National Trust sign showing a permissive footpath along the edge of a field to a gate. This leads you into a nature reserve of two meadows, untouched by artificial fertiliser or the plough. Orchids grow in profusion along with Dyer's Greenweed and Eyebright. Hay Rattle helps to keep the grasses from outgrowing the flowers as it fastens onto the roots of the grass to draw it's nourishment. That's why many modern farmers hate it because it reduces silage and hay yields. You won't find this site mentioned in the NT handbook like the big houses they look after, but arguably the Moss Valley Meadows site is as important,if not more,to the planets future as an old stately house.
There is a map of Sheffield, printed in 1849, which can be seen in the window of the Porter Book Shop on Sharrow Vale Road. If you look closely, the whole city is surrounded by 'Gardens' - these would have been market gardens supplying the rapidly growing city. They are of course now all built over, but it does show that in the days before good transport, what we see emerging now was at one time normal.
When I take people on walks around the city, one question I always ask when looking across a valley such as Rivelin is 'What is missing from this view?' - the answer is market gardens, along with pig stys and chicken coops. We have come to think that what we see in the countryside on the edges of the city is 'normal'.
The National Trust are also on Haslehurst Lane. Just opposite the farm buildings, buried in a hedge is a National Trust sign showing a permissive footpath along the edge of a field to a gate. This leads you into a nature reserve of two meadows, untouched by artificial fertiliser or the plough. Orchids grow in profusion along with Dyer's Greenweed and Eyebright. Hay Rattle helps to keep the grasses from outgrowing the flowers as it fastens onto the roots of the grass to draw it's nourishment. That's why many modern farmers hate it because it reduces silage and hay yields. You won't find this site mentioned in the NT handbook like the big houses they look after, but arguably the Moss Valley Meadows site is as important,if not more,to the planets future as an old stately house.
Good research and a great earthy, uplifting, story. What a gem of a place. Please keep us informed when the Open Day/Weekend is.
There is a map of Sheffield, printed in 1849, which can be seen in the window of the Porter Book Shop on Sharrow Vale Road. If you look closely, the whole city is surrounded by 'Gardens' - these would have been market gardens supplying the rapidly growing city. They are of course now all built over, but it does show that in the days before good transport, what we see emerging now was at one time normal.
When I take people on walks around the city, one question I always ask when looking across a valley such as Rivelin is 'What is missing from this view?' - the answer is market gardens, along with pig stys and chicken coops. We have come to think that what we see in the countryside on the edges of the city is 'normal'.
The war in Europe may have inflated some food prices. But the the bigger and longer lasting food price inflation is down to Brexit.
That's a lovely, hopeful article. Thanks.
Nice article to remund me to start ordering my vegbox