Free walks can boost our mental health and help us understand rural matters… and the dog can come, too!
Tuesday 29 June 2021
A series of free country walks in the county has been planned to enhance mental well-being and improve understanding of the new Countryside Code. Farming Community Network Essex is developing its pastoral care with the monthly guided walks, known collectively and further afield as Walky Talky. The speakers on the walks will quietly help refine […] Read more >
More images and some observations to get you thinking…
Wednesday 23 June 2021
A few reflections from the effervescent photographer Gordon Ridgewell to brighten your day and maybe pique a thought or two… “We have a new website at Littlebury: spider.net. Our eight-legged friends moved in about a week ago and the hedge is looking very unwell.” “Waking up from a nap in my armchair the other evening […] Read more >
Raft of objections fails to block Harlow housing scheme
Tuesday 22 June 2021
THIRTY-FIVE homes are to be built at Harlow’s Purford Green, despite the site not being earmarked for development in the Local Plan and the application drawing 29 objections. The new properties will be on fields formerly used by Purford Green junior school. Among a range of concerns, objectors cited loss of open space, the fact […] Read more >
Campaigns… and how (hopefully) to win them
Monday 21 June 2021
It is all too familiar a scenario: a local authority proposing to build thousands of houses in areas wholly unsuitable for such levels of development. When one council in north Kent targeted sites in the Green Belt, an impressive operation to challenge the potential environmental destruction was launched. Here, Alex Hills, chairman of CPRE Kent’s […] Read more >
Cub photographer
Monday 14 June 2021
Rather than close the week with a Gordon Ridgewell special, this time round we start things with a selection from the great man. These three cover a few weeks – indeed, they pre-date the current heatwave. He tells the story of his encounter with fox cubs… “It couldn’t get much better, walking the lanes in […] Read more >
Springs and Rams
Tuesday 8 June 2021
‘We’ve become deaf to the music of underground streams, forgotten how to celebrate the sacred springs’… in this beautiful piece, writer Anne Boileau pays tribute to an ancient source of water and to the machines that worked their own magic with it. Whalebone Spring; Peter’s Spring; Ladle Spring; Pigeon Spring… just four springs among dozens, […] Read more >
Join us in telling the government: don’t dilute or delay a Deposit Return Scheme
Tuesday 8 June 2021
The Essex countryside is littered with discarded single-use drinks bottles and cans. CPRE has been calling for the solution for over 10 years: a simple system that prevents the littering of drinks containers and ensures recycling rates of more than 90 per cent: an all-in Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Yet, despite committing two years ago […] Read more >
Please tell Natural England you want the Swanscombe peninsula protected
Tuesday 8 June 2021
The deadline for supporting the designation of the Swanscombe peninsula as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is Monday, July 12, 2021. Can you spare 10 minutes to tell Natural England you agree that this nationally important wildlife site should be protected? The importance of the Swanscombe peninsula for nature was recognised by Natural […] Read more >
A varied trio from lensman Gordon as we (finally!) welcome spring
Thursday 3 June 2021
Ace photographer Gordon Ridgewell has been taking advantage of our greater freedoms over recent weeks and seeing the sights around Littlebury. Three images from earlier this month are presented for you here: crops that were in need of a drop or two of rain (which finally arrived); fallow deer; and of course the blaze of […] Read more >