For more info contact: info@ssb.org.uk

         

‘The Luces’ is a piece of land off Hillside, which was owned by Noel and Geraldine Gould for some 50 years and used by the family to grow fruit and vegetables and keep goats and chickens. Before he died in March 2022, Noel decided that he would like to pass The Luces on as an asset for the community and The Parish Council agreed to take on ownership, and the necessary legal processes are in train.

SSB has formed a group to co-ordinate management of the Luces as a publicly accessible communal wildlife garden with wildflowers, fruit trees and beds of edibles, with an accessible footpath that allows pedestrians to avoid the narrowest part of Hillside and engage with nature, rural skills and food production. In the longer term, it would be an exemplar of a village plot of land with lots of sustainable things together – habitat protection; rural skills in action; wood & tree management; verges; permaculture principles; fruit; grass and meadow etc., with peaceful places to stop, sit, rest and sustain ourselves; plus information about what is there and why.

With spring in the air and the snowdrops emerging, we started work at The Luces.

 

The initial focus for the volunteers, was clearing and recycling unwanted plastic, glass, wire and metal from the site, tidying up and preparing it for tree planting by the Steepers and scything by the grim reapers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three men went to mow – went to mow a meadow,…..

Three men, two men, one man …….

 

and a woman,

 

…. went to mow a meadow.

 

 

 

In early spring 2023, before bird-nesting season, the SSB Wood Group tidied and laid the hedge along the roadside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Luces in Summer 2025

As you stroll along the path through The Luces, going to and from the village in July, it is now alive with flowers and insects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The butterflies enjoy the abundant buddleja and sunny spaces

 

You can enjoy a ripe apple,

 

 

 

 

 

or anticipate the fruits to come

– cooking apples,

 

 

 

 

 

 

plums,

Japanese Wineberries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and blackberries.

All are a testament to 50 years of tending the plot by Noel and Geraldine Gould, which is maintained today for everyone to enjoy, as SSB’s volunteers assist mother nature in revealing its abundance.