Tolland Churchyard meadow project

See our calendar page for start times & dates [LINK]

Location: Tolland Church [Click to see location on Google Maps]

Activity description: Collecting and stacking cut vegetation to encourage a meadow like environment.

Finish time: Should be completed by 15:00  (but you can leave when you like)

Child friendly: Yes

Kit required: Gardening gloves and appropriate footwear. Bring a packed lunch if you plan to stay until the end.

Site History: This churchyard is truly a hidden gem.  EuCan MCVG was asked to help with the restoration of St John The Baptist Churchyard, Tolland to a meadow like environment in 2020. We are now cutting the churchyard annually in August or later each year. 

Tolland churchyard has fantastic potential to become a delightful wildflower and wildlife area. With a little planning, the area could have a very meadow-like feel with the benefit of low maintenance. Getting the meadow-like appearance will take a little time to achieve, and it will look slightly unkempt for a while, but it will be worth the effort.

The aim is to reduce the grass growth by only cutting after the meadow flowers have dropped their seeds. These meadow flowers will eventually take over and naturally reduce the growth of the grass. This will eventually break the cycle of regular mowing that suppresses the meadow flowers and only encourages the plants such as Common couch grass (Elymus repens) that will spread by creeping rhizomes.

Please come with Gardening gloves and appropriate footwear. We supply a limited number of volunteers and the members of the local community also get involved. We have a number of hand tools such as rakes and loppers and would be happy to share these with volunteers who are unable to bring their own.