A Blooming Lovely Spring & Summer

Somehow, Autumn is already upon us.

What better time to pause for a hot drink and look back at an absolutely glorious Spring & Summer on the land.

March offered us the first green shoots of Spring, as if the slumbering valley was finally waking up once more. Brighter days brought more regular opportunities to carry out much needed maintenance at our base camp.

This included some new handrails for the kitchen steps, which were lovingly created by Adam and Pete, using larch sourced from the land.  

While the growing season gathered pace we were regularly cutting our tracks to keep walking paths open! 

We’re delighted to have made a new connection with Taleblazers, a wonderful organisation that helps people connect with nature, storytelling, folklore and heritage.

James O’Connell, one of their tutors, has been bringing SEN students to Polcoombe regularly to run alternative education sessions out on the land. Their values sit very closely alongside our own, and it has been a real joy to see more young people exploring, learning and enjoying the land here. We look forward to growing this relationship in the years ahead.

You can find out more about their work at taleblazers.org.uk

Aside from keeping us busy with practical work, the explosion of life during Spring offers wonderful opportunities for foraging - and we held several community foraging days throughout Spring.

These days are a wonderful way to come together, to learn and appreciate the abundance of the land.

Armed with an assortment of bags and baskets, participants are tasked with collecting specific plants to be used in our foraged lunch. This provides us with plenty of learning opportunities, asking questions and discussing answers as we walk.

After all that fresh air, we reward ourselves by preparing dishes from the harvest in our wild kitchen. Creating a bountyful feast, together.

We always end up with a beautiful table of abundance, both in quantity and flavour! Wild food is not only delicious but is also incredibly nutrient dense. Our favourites include hedgerow pakoras, wild garlic pesto and nettle terrine. 

Foraging encourages us to walk slowly and notice what is around us, for me this is a real gateway to connecting more deeply with the natural world.

If you are interested in coming along to our regular community days then please join our Monthly Meets community group on Facebook.

In June, our friend Maz (who runs The Cottage Bed & Breakfast, here in Polperro) led an introduction to fermenting, and fermented food, workshop.

One of humanity's oldest forms of food magic - fermentation turns simple ingredients into bold, tangy delights, packed with flavour and gut-loving goodness. Once you understand the basics, a whole world of bubbling, transformational possibilities opens up in your own kitchen!

Maz offered an incredibly informative introduction to fermenting, focussing on the benefits of fermented food, in an open forum discussion. And there was plenty of opportunity for further discussion on the subject during a thoroughly enjoyable hands on making experience.

Participants all worked at their own preparation stations to create delicious sauerkraut, kimchi and brined veg. Maz was even kind enough to share some of her precious kefir seeds for everyone to have a go at producing their own kefir, at home.

After the practical session, Maz served some of her famous, home baked sourdough with tasters of each type of ferment that has been prepared in advance - along with some examples of different types of ferment.

And, wow, what a truly delicious way to end a wonderful afternoon.

In August we experienced the ritual of wine, and the wisdom of the wild.

Sommelier Abi, from VINOYASA, led a fantastic journey through a selection of hand-picked wines. Each wine was carefully chosen to tantalise our tastebuds and awaken our senses.

VINOYASA is where yoga, wine, and wild adventures collide – because who says mindfulness can’t come with a side of mischief?

To that end, there was a playful quiz, with some equally playful teamnames, to test our knowledge along the way.

It was a fantastic evening focused on elevating the palate and making new connections, whilst basking in the peace and tranquility of Polcoombe.

For this event, we also offered overnight camping, which was a great success. What could be better than waking up to the calm of the land after a night of wine?

For those of us who were willing and able, there was also an optional yoga session, led by Abi, in the morning.

As the plant world bursts back into life, the animal world stirs too.

Spring is a great time to spot the elusive badger, emerging after a lean winter to feed.  At least one clan is known to live at Polcoombe, and we're beginning to map their territory by tracking their latrines — small pits they dig to mark the edges of their home range.

After a few years of watching migrant swallows visit Polcoombe, seemingly searching for a home, we were delighted to see the first swallows ever nest in the barn this year. We watched them busily build their nest from mud and plant matter, then successfully rear their chicks, who fledged in midsummer.

It's a reminder that the structures we build can offer shelter to wildlife too — and that with a little thought and the right intention, humans and nature can live in better balance. We very much hope they'll return next spring, after their epic 6,000-mile journey to wintering grounds in South Africa.

We dug a wildlife pond in the wetland a couple of years ago, and this small body of water now supports an incredible amount of aquatic life. This spring we found two species of newt, the palmate and smooth newt, as well as loads of frog and toad spawn.

The benefits of ponds like this reach well beyond their banks. Dragonflies and damselflies that emerge here hunt across the surrounding meadows, and birds and mammals travel in to drink and bathe before moving on. Standing water is such an important resource for wildlife, and we hope to create more ponds in the years to come.

This summer we were also thrilled to spot red kites flying over the land - a real conservation success story, as these once persecuted birds were driven to near extinction in Britain and are only now returning to Cornwall, with the first breeding pair in over 150 years recorded in 2021.

In addition to these amazing wildlife spots, we also hosted our very own BioBlitz in the middle of summer to celebrate 10 years of Polcoombe!

A BioBlitz is a fast paced survey of flora & fauna, normally carried out over 24 hours. We decided to do things our own way and spread activity over a whole weekend!

We looked at mammals, birds, moths & butterflies, bats, bugs, reptiles & amphibians, wildflowers and much more.

It was such a fantastic event that we think it deserves its very own blog post. So, watch this space for more detail on what we discovered. Coming soon.

As the weather changes, nights draw in and things in Cornwall start to slow down - but we still have lots of exciting things going on at Polcoombe.

Our Community Apple Day is back for a second year 🍎

Join us on Sunday 18th October, from 11am, to process the apples from our orchard and take away some hand pressed juice as a reward. As a thank you for everyone’s hard work, we will also be providing a hearty autumnal lunch. Please feel free to bring something to contribute, or bring your own snacks / refreshments if you’d rather.

On Sunday 15th November we are hosting another of our extremely popular Wild Wine Tasting events.

This time we will be enjoying a delicious lunch, followed by an afternoon tasting beside the fire, up in our roundhouse. So, keep an eye out for more details on our website and Facebook, or sign up to our mailing list to stay in the loop.

You’ll want to get your tickets quickly, once they are available, as our VINOYASA events always prove to be extremely popular!

As winter sets in, Heather will be looking for volunteers to join some community Coppicing Days, as well as gathering a professional work party for an intensive week of tree maintenance.

Finally, we’re hoping to squeeze in one of our popular Polcoombe Presents film screenings, in partnership with Polperro Film Screenings.

Watch this space for more information!

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As always, we welcome enquiries from local groups, educators, craftspeople / creators and nature based organisations seeking a dedicated space for community events or workshops.

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By: Heather White and Becky Whittaker