When we first visited Folly Farm some 30 years ago this 250-acre plot was up for sale. Gates were hanging from their hinges, the hedges were rampant and the pastures were waist-deep in flowers; the 20th century did not appear to have happened yet, nor even the 19th.
These unruly fields were carved from the land, not drawn by a ruler – the first farmers did not go in for squared-off corners as they hacked into the wildwood. The landscape historian Oliver Rackham called this “ancient countryside” (as opposed to the regular fields of “planned countryside” formed by the enclosures) and its pattern may go back as far as the neolithic period.
Even in winter, when low, slanting sunlight picks out the details, we can see that Dowlings Wood is a remnant of that wildwood – its boundaries are guarded by banks and ditches that kept livestock out long before barbed wire. The trees are young (the wood was cleared in the second world war) but come spring we will find rare herbs to confirm that the woodland itself is ancient. The shy goldilocks buttercup and the regal herb-paris with its single crown-like flower only survive in woods that have been around for centuries. To these demanding species, planting trees does not make a woodland and felling trees does not destroy one (as long as tree cover is re-established in due time).
In the pastures, anthills the size of small sheep confirm the historical evidence that some fields have never seen the plough. Wildflowers describe every change in the soil: wet or dry; deep or shallow; differing aspects or chemistry – the flora varies almost from step to step. Sprays have never been used; dyer’s greenweed, saw-wort and devil’s-bit scabious would disappear at their first touch.
Three decades ago this palimpsest of ecological history was in danger of being erased for ever by modern farming methods. Fortunately, Folly Farm was bought by the Avon Wildlife Trust: it has conserved not only the unique character of the land and the profusion of wild species that live here, but also the legible history of a living landscape.
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