Spent the weekend camping in The Fens. Great to be able to scoot around the villages without having to dash back to Nottingham. Had a wonderful tour of Moulton Windmill and found out how the community were absolutely key in its restoration to the impressive working mill it is today – the tallest in the UK. The hundreds of white slats of the sails were actually made by local people working collectively, each person taking wood and a pattern home to cut each piece and bring them back to the mill. The sails were completed and installed in 2011.
I then drove over to Pinchbeck Woods after the Pinchbeck Guide leaders had told me about how they and other community groups had helped to design and plant this new small woodland to celebrate the Millennium. The pathway tracks a much older thoroughfare that took villagers from Pinchbeck over the River Glen to Spalding over 400 years ago. 14 years on fro its planting it was quite a magical experience to wander through it.
On Sunday I took a long walk to explore Cowbit Wash – this place holds so much history that’s very specific to South Holland. In the winter it was where the national speed skating championships were held, it’s the site of an iron age salt works and it’s where the fenland punt gunners hunted for wildfowl. Now it’s been drained it boasts fantastic soil for supporting crops and wildlife – and the skies are just amazing!
The Village Postcard Project 