Our nature reserves, sheep, kids and wildlife

	Noakes Grove, Sewards End.
Noakes Grove, Sewards End. almost nine acres of ancient woodland, scrub and wild-flower meadows. Grazed by our small flock of sheep. The reserve is always open to the public: come and enjoy it. Learn more, leaflet download etc.
	Kings Field, Hempstead.
Kings Field, Hempstead. Four acres of pasture land and hay meadow crossed by a small river. It is now open to the public now that the planned management work as started. Learn more.
	Scotch Patch, Ellis Green, Wimbish.
Scotch Patch, Ellis Green, Wimbish. A one-acre traditional apple orchard which is part of the eight-acre Ellis Green Common Local Wildlife Site. Always open to the public. Learn more.
	Limefield Pit, Saffron Walden.
Limefield Pit, Saffron Walden. An old chalk-pit of geological importance. Walden Countryside is likely to take-over its management soon. See our plans.
	Our Sheep. are Wiltshire Horns
Our Sheep. We have sixteen Wiltshire Horn sheep (ewes and ewe lambs) sometimes with a visiting ram. The sheep are important because their grazing keeps our wildflower meadows in good condition. Read about our adopted ewes
	Children's Activities
Wild Child Online During school closure and lockdown we are running our Wild Child Online service. There are educational games, stories and wildlife information aimed at primary age children. The permanently home-schooled members of our Wild Child Club meet weekly for ZOOM sessions but the online resources are available for anyone to use. Garden bird game Frogs, damsels and dragons (pond-life information) Count the prickles on a hedgehog Neria: a story the children help write
	Plants and animals.
Plants and animals. There are certainly more than 1000 different wild plant and animal species that live in our reserves. We currently have quite good lists for flowering plants, butterflies & moths and vertebrate animals at Noakes Grove. Take a look at the lists. Can you help add to our records?
	Download our leaflets We have a long list of printer friendly leaflets, visitor guides etc for you to download. Take your pick
Top of document Copyright 2020 Organic Countryside Community Interest Company Trading as Walden Countryside Company number 06794848 - registered in England VAT No: 947 3003 317 Updated 1 December 2020

Walden Countryside - who we are

We are a not-for-profit community interest company. The land at Noakes Grove is owned by Organic Countryside CIC [that's Walden Countryside's official name]

Our main activities centre around our nature reserves but we are not only interested in preserving their wildlife. We are trying to make them more like the Walden Countryside of a century ago:

Producing local food without the use of pesticides and artificial fertilisers

Get people using the land: as volunteer workers or simply enjoying the countryside

Encouraging children to enjoy, and learn about, their countryside

We are not just about creating and managing nature reserves, we want to:

Persuade local councils and private land-owners to create more public access to areas of countryside

Promote access to the countryside by campaigning for public rights of way to be kept accessible and adequately signed

Local Wildlife Sites

There over a hundred local wildlife sites (mostly in private ownership, some publicly owned) in the northern half of Uttlesford.

Walden Countryside aims to work with the owners of these sites to maintain and improve their value for wildlife

See full details of the sites in your parish.

Current Projects:

Opening Kings Field to the public

We have been awarded a grant by Affinity Water for this project. The reserve is now open to the public but the grant will enable us to finish the work soon:

Public access, with some permissive paths, welcoming signs and guide leaflets at the gate. This is now available subject to the current lockdown restriction to groups from one household only

The stream through the middle of the reserve is one of its most important features. We will soon install a footbridge over it for visitors to use.

The stream banks are deep-sided so it is difficult to get near the stream or even see it. We plan to dig out part of the bank to make a wider stream valley with more gently sloping banks. The digging work will also create a pool beside the stream but not create a dam hindering water flow and passage by fish.

We want to create a children's area where to organised groups can enjoy the reserve and learn about its wildlife

Read more about Kings Field

Limefield Pit Nature Reserve - Restoration Project

Limefield Pit is an old chalk quarry that has been an Essex Widllife Trust reserve for over 20 years: the only nature reserve within the Saffron Walden Town boundary. It is not open to the public at present and has lost much of its wildflower diversity.

Walden Countryside and the Essex Wildlife Trust wish to see the area managed locally and it is likely that we will take over the management of the reserve in the near future.

Helping Walden Countryside

We are a small organisation totally dependent on volunteers to do all the administrative and physical work and to raise the funds we need each year,

There are several ways you can help us financially: which one would suit you?

Become a "Friend of Walden Countryside"

by donating online (you choose how much and how often but we hope you will be able to give about £10 a year). "Friends" get our monthly newsletter via email. For more details and to donate click "Friend".

Help us at no cost to you:

Where do you shop online?

The big names (Amazon, eBay, M & S, John Lewis) or any one of over 4000 other online merchants have all agreed to give us a small percentage of anything you spend with them. All you have to do is register with Easyfundraising.

Just browse online as you normally would and Easyfundraising will tell you when you are visiting a website that has agreed to give donations to Organic Countryside.

PLEASE visit our Easyfundraising page and sign up. It costs you nothing and will be a huge help to us.

Just click this link or copy this web address into your browser: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/organiccountrysidecic

Buy some shares

It is the shareholders of Organic Countryside CIC (the official name of Walden Countryside) who have provided the funds to buy Noakes Grove. Shareholders get no dividends or other financial benefits but they do own and direct the company. Purchase of a minimum of £100 in shares gives life membership of the company (well more than life, you can hand your shares on to the next generation)..

Click for more details.

ESSEX LOTTERY

Each week a £1 ticket could win you £25,000

It's certain that it will give 50p to fund Noakes Grove

Please visit our page on the Essex lottery website to find out more and buy your tickets

Weekly Prizes	Odds per ticket
£25,000	1,000,000:1
£2,000	55,556:1
£250	5,556:1
£25	556:1
3 extra tickets	56:1
50p to fund Walden Countryside	Certainty

Recently one of our supporters won £250 and 3 others have won smaller prizes. Next week it could be you and might be £25,000

Conserving Walden's Countryside for wildlife and you to enjoy