BUSINESS POST OF THE WEEK
Westham Village Conservation Group:
Health, Heritage, and Wildlife Guided Walks
Last Sunday, May 29th, the third in the current series of Health, Heritage, and Wildlife Guided Walks took place in fine weather along Peelings Lane, from Westham pond to Stone Cross Windmill. Ably guided by Fiona Durling, the walk paid especial attention to the glorious collection of oak trees along the lane (one of our group counted 38 of them!), stopping at various points to measure them in order to assess their age. The children with us found this to be the best part of the walk and had huge fun joining in with the measuring! One tree was found to be about 200 years old, which meant it started growing about the time that Wellington beat Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. This fits in neatly with the Napoleonic era barracks that used to be in Peelings Lane and the Martello Towers that were built on Pevensey beach to defend the area against Napoleon’s invasion force.Another highlight was noticing how busy the bumblebees are now, and a Sussex Blue butterfly was also spotted. Ferns were growing in abundance and the lane was very shaded in places by the green canopy that has now fully formed under the huge oak trees arching over the lane. We really do have a treasure in Peelings Lane!
The walk finished with delicious tea and cakes in the Stone Cross Windmill cafe, and some of our group took advantage of the free guided tour of the windmill itself, which still produces its own flour!
This series of walks is a joint collaboration between Westham Village Conservation Group, Action in Rural Sussex, and Stone Cross Windmill. Our heartfelt thanks go to all the volunteers who help make the walks possible, and to all those people who support the walks by coming along on them.
Westham Village Conservation Group, 31 May 2016
IMAGE CREDIT: Westham Village Conservation Group
