Rotherfield Millennium Green Trust preserves ancient grazing meadows in the heart of Rotherfield, East Sussex, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The meadows date back to medieval times; too boggy for intensive farming, they were managed through hay-making and grazing, allowing them to support an enormously diverse ecology continuously for centuries. 

Meadows in the Weald worked with a class from Rotherfield Primary School and Trust volunteers to celebrate and maintain this heritage. Thirty-two students were trained in taking oral histories, interviewing members of the community about their memories of farming in the Weald. Poetry, art and drama made in response to this work, as well as the interviews themselves, were presented at a busy open day exhibition telling the story of the Green. The Trust is now working with the School on how to link the Green with the curriculum in different ways.

In addition, volunteers conducted new research into the village, maintained the pond and willows, produced an interpretation board for the orchard, and created a booklet detailing the project’s discoveries. The project’s wide-ranging success shows how a small grant can be used to accomplish a huge variety of outputs, sustainably strengthening community ties in the process.

A participant said: "The project made me more aware of what an asset we have in the village, and grateful to the Trustees of the Millennium Green and the School for getting another generation aware of the Green and appreciating their heritage." 

Further information can be found on the Rotherfield Millennium Green Trust website.