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| | | From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
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Helen Mark visits West Sussex, where her first stop is the charming village of Bosham (pronounced Bozz'm) which stands on a little peninsula between two tidal creeks at the eastern end of Chichester's inland harbour. There is no beach, no sand, and bathing is virtually out of the question, but this little village has the key to many of our major historical events. Local historian Angela Bromley-Martin explains that Bosham is one of only five places that appear on the map attached to the 12th century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It was here that King Canute tried to turn back the waves and Bosham church is not only depicted, but named on the Bayeux Tapestry.
Bosham Village History
Bosham Village Information
Burton and Chingford Ponds is a Local Nature Reserve and an SSSI and Graham West and Bruce Middleton from the Sussex Downs Conservation Board take Helen on a walk around the water. The site is important for the vast numbers of rare insects and plants, and here and there lurks the rare and extremely poisonous cowbane, a treacherous relative to carrots and parsley and not found anywhere else in Sussex. The habitat of the ponds has changed since a breach was made in one of them and now they have to decide whether to restore the old water levels, or whether the new populations of the ponds are more important than the old.
Burton Mill Ponds
Wildlife Trust, Sussex
Helen next embarks on a fungi foray, usually thought of as an autumn activity, but Dr Tony Whitbread of the Sussex Wildlife Trust says that fungi are the great recycling engines of the woods, working away to rot organic material down. The important part isn't usually visible, the mushrooms and toadstools that we can see are merely the way they reproduce. He takes Helen to The Mens, a large wild area of ancient woodland in the Low Weald. The unusual name of this area comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ge-mænnes, meaning common land. It has an untamed feel, having been largely unmanaged for many decades and it's littered with old wood and falling trees, a perfect habitat for these invisible workers.
As a reminder that the area is a hotbed of history, Helen visits Fishbourne Roman Palace. But she's not interested in the central heating or the mosaics, she's going in search of the Roman Alan Titchmarsh. The site is unique in the evidence found that the Romans were keen gardeners, and the northern half of the formal garden has been replanted to its original plan. It contains a range of plants known to have been cultivated by the Romans. Education Officer (and keen gardener) Claire Ryley explains how they discovered the gardens and the detective work involved in finding out which plants were grown - including the fact that gladioli were grown as a vegetable.
Fishbourne Roman Palace
Helen ends her visit with yet another reminder of the continuity of the county's history. At Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve she meets Richard Williamson, just retired after 40 years as warden. The wood contains the largest remaining yew forest in the world. Tennyson wrote poetry about these trees, some of which are thousands of years old. Richard's time in the forest has resulted, among other things, in a minutely documented record, updated weekly in graphs and charts, of the welfare of 57 species of bird, 40 species of butterfly and the principal species of downland plants, including all orchids, a real impression of the ebb and flow of habitats. Richard's love of nature was encouraged by his father, Henry - the author of Tarka the Otter, and Richard talks of the passion for these woods that was handed down to him.
Kingley Vale
This week's competition: myrtle, a plant popular with Roman gardeners, is often found in bridal bouquets today. Why would the Romans have thought this appropriate? The prize is a Roman board game and a book about Roman gardens.
Submit your entry by emailing [email protected]
Last week's winner is Mrs Frances Buckley from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, who correctly said that the soft, spongy coral commonly found washed up at the water's edge of Britain's beaches
is known as Dead Men's Fingers.
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Z to Z Britain
Open Country looks back 2003
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