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Ash to ashes [update 2]

Leaves on infected ash
The Midhurst and Petworth Observer reports:

In a report to an [SDNP] authority meeting, chief executive Trevor Beattie told members three cases of ash dieback (Chalara Fraxinea) had been confirmed inside the park. In addition, four cases had been reported just outside the boundaries near Chichester, Horsham and Eastbourne which, he said, risked spreading the disease into the national park. ..

Mr Beattie said: “There is no cure for ash dieback, the disease is here to stay and is expected to spread through the ash population from east to west .. evidence from the past two seasons suggests the spread is slower than expected and spores are moving at a rate of about 10km a year.”

Read the full story here.

A barren, flat land

SDNPA Discovery Map filtered by viewpoints
If you click the image above you will be taken to the SDNPA’s “Discovery Map” of the National Park set to display all the viewpoints. As you will immediately discover, there are no viewpoints in the National Park. Obviously, that’s because the South Downs, like the Netherlands, is completely flat. Apart from the hyperbolically named Alice Holt Forest, there are no woods either. There are no art galleries, no gardens and no vineyards. If you are consulting this map in order to “Find out what the National Park has to offer!”, the answer from the Midhurst box-tickers is clear: very little.

GJMG

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow out of this stony rubbish?

A restoration precedent

The restored cart shed at Up Marden
Work has now been completed on the conservation of a 200-year-old cart shed in Up Marden, West Sussex. The project, a pilot which could be rolled out for other ‘Heritage at Risk’ across the South Downs has been carried out in partnership between the SDNPA, Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Natural England and the landowner. The museum oversaw a programme of repair works through a new outreach programme giving museum students first-hand experience in masonry and timber frame conservation skills. This was the first conservation project that the museum had undertaken outside the museum grounds. The museum’s new outreach service could help the SDNPA to repair other historic buildings across the National Park. More here.

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The Fulking reservoirs and C19 water supply? Summersdeane Farm? Perching watermill? Rat’s Ramble? Perching Hill Barn? Fulking Grange?