Blog
Your chance to take part in hedgerows consultation
Monday 11 September 2023
Hedgerows take centre-stage in a Defra consultation that should hopefully help ensure their survival. Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is aiming to gather views on how hedgerows – such a feature of our countryside – are protected as cross compliance measures are lost with the phasing out of the Basic Payment Scheme. […] Read more >
Leave it for the birds?
Friday 16 June 2023
We’ll just have to take ace photographer Gordon Ridgewell’s word on this one! “I took a ride to Hatfield Forest now the weather has turned better,” he tells us. “I was quite surprised that at 88 I can still pull the birds – they imagined I had something they wanted. “It was more jackdaws than […] Read more >
Wild about rewilding
Tuesday 6 June 2023
A cheery offering from photographer Gordon Ridgewell: “I captured these poppies this morning. Audley End estate has rewilded a small field just off Chestnut Avenue – so-called as it’s really a country road lined on both sides with chestnut trees.” Read more >
Of clouds, cow parsley… and No Mow May
Wednesday 24 May 2023
A man for all seasons is photographer Gordon Ridgewell… and also not one to shy away from a controversial opinion or two! “The cow parsley is blooming good this year, but it’s not easy driving along some of the single-track roads up here, especially when the rain comes from those dramatic clouds and it almost […] Read more >
Six of the best planted at Coggeshall’s Grange Barn
Tuesday 11 April 2023
Six apple trees have been planted in the grounds of the National Trust’s Grange Barn in Coggeshall as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy project. The trees, currently no more than a metre tall, join the already flourishing fruit trees to form a small orchard in the garden at Grange Barn, which will provide fruit […] Read more >
Conservation – the second part of Robert Erith’s talk
Wednesday 12 October 2022
A highlight of our AGM was the talk entitled Conservation by Robert Erith. We presented the first part of his talk, in which he offered observations as a North Essex countryman, here. In this this second part he talks about the Dedham Vale Society, of which he is president, and the work he and his […] Read more >
Conservation – a talk by retiring vice-president Robert Erith
Wednesday 12 October 2022
One of the highlights of our AGM was the talk by Robert Erith, who, after 25 years’ stoic service in the role, is standing down as a CPRE Essex vice-president. Also president of the Dedham Vale Society and a committee member of the Colne-Stour Countryside Association, there can be few people better qualified to offer […] Read more >
A final reminder: the CPRE Essex AGM is on Saturday
Wednesday 28 September 2022
It’s almost upon us! Yes, this year’s CPRE Essex AGM at the Grange Barn, Coggeshall, is on Saturday (October 1). The Grange Barn is managed by the National Trust and marks the approximate halfway point of the Essex Way. This year is the 50th anniversary of this spectacular walk, which was conceived via a competition […] Read more >
The big beast that does things very much its own way…
Thursday 28 July 2022
Much though we all love country life, it does have its moments… Normally chilled photographer Gordon Ridgewell reports: “I can’t even sit in the garden tonight, with the big beast making loads of noise and everything covered with dust.” Read more >
Staycation with a Bicycle… back up north
Wednesday 6 October 2021
August 2021 Christine and David Knight look back on two special walks Apart from a couple of outings locally, the bikes didn’t clock up many miles in July as we spent more time walking some of the many Essex footpaths. Two of the walks were quite memorable. The first was a walk along the coast […] Read more >