Organic Countryside CIC

Organic Countryside CIC We are a Community Interest Company which owns Noakes Grove nature preserve in Sewards End.

We own Noakes Grove: 9 acres of nature reserve and small-holding at Sewards End near Saffron Walden, Essex. Noakes Grove is open to visitors on foot at any time (as long as dogs and children are under control).

11/04/2026

Open Day - Noakes Grove - Sunday April 26th
Redgates Lane, Sewards End

Arrive any time from 10am to 4pm (leave by 5pm)

Entry, car parking, activities and refreshments are all without charge but we welcome donations to help our conservation work
Springtime butterflies
Refreshments include apple juice, made by our Wild Child Group
Apple Juice
Meet the sheep and their lambs
Pond dipping
Cowslips are one of our early Spring flowers to look out for cowslips Spot the birds using our nest-boxes
Nature reserve tours - for adults, family groups or children on their own
bluebells
Moth trapping
Puppet shows
Capture and release of wild mice and voles
Live music from the Bumpstead Bojangles
Campfire cooking
kids campfire

Work Party at Noakes Grove
(19th April and every third Sunday)
Tea/Coffee/Biscuits. Bring your own lunch
10am to 3pm - come when you like
Our work parties do a marvelous job of habitat management work, maintaining a great variety of wildflower grasslands and wildlife rich woodland, scrub and paths.

17/09/2025

Work Party at Noakes Grove
Third Sunday (21st September)
Tea/Coffee/Biscuits. Bring your own lunch
Varied work:
Attacking bramble that is encroaching paths
Checking lizard mats and arranging them better
Management of the inside of the roadside hedge
Guttering and door locks on barn
10am to 3pm - come when you like

In the absence of sheep at Noakes Grove, why not enjoy a visit in search of edible fruit? BlackberriesEat raw or, wi...
17/09/2025

In the absence of sheep at Noakes Grove, why not enjoy a visit in search of edible fruit?
Blackberries
Eat raw or, with some sugar, make a blackberry tart. Also they make nice jam or jelly but need some crab apples mixed in to make it set
Dewberries
Use like blackberries.
Sloes
Try biting into a ripe sloe to discover just how sharp tasting they are. Your whole mouth will feel dry. The classic use for sloes is to convert gin or vodka into sloe gin (or vodka). Pick now and you should have some sloe gin ready by Christmas. Recipes online.
Haws
Country children ate the spring hawthorn leaves ("bread and cheese") and then, in autumn, the flesh of raw haws. Combats followed, to see who could spit their pip the furthest.
Adults can mix them with crab apples and make a jelly that is good with cream cheese.
Rose hips
In days gone by, when the NHS was new, every pre-school youngster was given free rose hip syrup as a source of vitamin C. All this Delrosa syrup was made in Britain from wild rose hips harvested by children for pocket money. You can no longer buy British rose hip syrup but it is fairly easy to make (recipes are easy to find online and involve only sugar and rose hips). These can be mixed with blackberries to make jelly or fermented on their own to make good hedgerow wine.
Crab apples
These make an excellent jelly on their own or mixed with other fruit as a setting agent, Also they make good, sharp cider.
Acorns
Pigs like them raw but humans don't. They are too bitter and the only real use for them is to make a caffeine-free substitute for coffee. Chop the kernels, roast, grind up, roast again, then make the coffee. In view of the current price of coffee there may be some who are prepared to give it a try. It was used in WW2 when real coffee was unobtainable. Most coffee lovers were pleased when the war ended.

Hungry sheep go into hidingThe hot dry summer has caused the grass in our sheep fields at Noakes Grove and Kings Field t...
17/09/2025

Hungry sheep go into hiding
The hot dry summer has caused the grass in our sheep fields at Noakes Grove and Kings Field to grow slower than the sheep were eating it. So our 23 sheep have all left our nature reserves for temporary quarters on three private pastures. Both we and the sheep are very grateful for the field-owners' hospitality.
The breeding ewes and the ram should be back at Kings Field in November and at Noakes Grove in early spring
The price of hay
Grass is the main part of the diet of our sheep but they always need some hay and extra sheep nuts in winter and, this year, will need more than usual. Because everyone with horses, donkeys, cows or sheep is in the same boat, the price of hay has doubled: usually about £3 a bale it now costs £6. If you would like to buy a bale the sheep would be very pleased. Each sheep needs about three bales to get through winter.

Kings Field Camera TrapThe Wild Child Group set a camera trap in the woodland strip at the top edge of Kings Field. Thre...
06/07/2025

Kings Field Camera Trap
The Wild Child Group set a camera trap in the woodland strip at the top edge of Kings Field. Three nights later here is what we had caught.

Ellis Green Local Wildlife SiteWimbish Parish Council has done a good job managing Ellis Green Common and have sown wild...
06/07/2025

Ellis Green Local Wildlife Site
Wimbish Parish Council has done a good job managing Ellis Green Common and have sown wildflower seeds resulting in an excellent crop of yellow rattle.
Ellis Green is common land and it is designated as a Local Wildlife Site. At the very south end of the site is Scotch Patch - the one acre traditional orchard managed by Walden Countryside and the source of our apple juice.

Our Wheat Patch with Cornfield FlowersOur small cornfield in what we used to call "docks and nettles" now has our tradit...
06/07/2025

Our Wheat Patch with Cornfield Flowers

Our small cornfield in what we used to call "docks and nettles" now has our traditional variety of spring sown wheat with a lovely mixture of cornfield flowers. You may think the wheat is barley as the ears have a beard of long awns just like present-day barley.
The wheat will probably be ripe in early September - much later than the combine harvesters will have set-to work on the intensive farm fields. Our harvest will be nearer the traditional time for the church harvest festivals.

Cereal project at Noakes GroveThe sharp-eyed among you will have noticed a section of the ‘Docks and Nettles’ field is l...
06/05/2025

Cereal project at Noakes Grove
The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed a section of the ‘Docks and Nettles’ field is looking decidedly scrambled. This is an idea that David Corke has had for a while. He thought it would be fun to try and plant a wheatfield in the manner of two or three centuries ago, when wheatfields were free from chemicals and deep ploughing and had a host of wild flowers. David was unable to do this, but Andrew organized the ‘roughing’ of the ground (thanks to Keith) and summoned a team to broadcast the seed by hand. They all had great fun, and time will tell whether the right things grow in sufficient abundance. Watch it grow.

06/05/2025

At King’s Field, the Essex Amphibian and Reptile Group are coming to do a survey. They will be putting down a few ‘reptile mats’ – cosy shelters that reptiles like to hide beneath – then coming to see what they find. If you see any of these mats, please do not move them or think that they have been fly-tipped, they are part of a serious scientific survey!
We know that we have grass snakes at both nature reserves but we have never recorded slow worms and we are uncertain about King’s Field lizards. Frogs we have, but we have only ever spotted one toad, that was at Noakes Grove and of course we know about the great crested newts and smooth newts. It will be very good indeed to have more records of reptiles.

What we do know is that the pond at King’s Field has got tadpoles, the spawn has hatched and they are wiggling about as though jet-propelled.

WildlifeWe are very excited about the newcomers to Noakes Grove: we have taken in several refugees from the development ...
06/05/2025

Wildlife
We are very excited about the newcomers to Noakes Grove: we have taken in several refugees from the development site behind Tesco. These are common lizards and although we have given a permanent home to at least eight so far (more will be coming), we regret that you are unlikely to see them – they are very small and dash into hiding as soon as they hear something coming. Lizards are reptiles, so they need to come out into the sun to warm their bodies sufficiently to be able to move well, so it will not be impossible, on a hot day, to see one basking in the sun. An adult would measure about 15–20 cm (but most of that is tail) and the juveniles are a lot less, some were only about 6 or 7 cm.

SheepIn the meadow at Noakes Grove, there are now 11 lambs with their mums, the infants looking very young and sweet. Do...
06/05/2025

Sheep
In the meadow at Noakes Grove, there are now 11 lambs with their mums, the infants looking very young and sweet. Do go and admire them. Meanwhile, Remus the ram is in the ‘cricket bats’ field in King’s Field with his long-term companion Amy. They are probably feeling a bit abandoned, so if you are passing, please stop and say hello to them.

New growthIt is spring and the leaves of the oak trees are beginning to cloak the branches in a fine fur of red and gree...
06/05/2025

New growth

It is spring and the leaves of the oak trees are beginning to cloak the branches in a fine fur of red and green. Bluebells are starting to flower alongside the pretty little ground ivy and the bright yellow celandines and I am pleased to report that our oxlips in Noakes Grove wood have managed to avoid the attentions of the muntjac.

Address

Sewards End
Saffron Walden
CB102XE

Telephone

+441799599643

Website

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