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Over the past year the Ranges from Croft have been working over in Brilley located between Kington and Hay-on-Wye. There are a couple of small orchards on the site and the one we have been working on most recently is shown in the photos above. These photos have been taken…
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There have been many Bat surveys undertaken at Croft Castle over the years, a quite extensive one in 2016 where the Fishpool Valley was noted as having a consistently higher Bat activity than any other of the areas at Croft Castle that were surveyed at the time; this naturally highlighted…
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The Biomass boiler has been in operation at Croft Castle for over 7 years and a regular supply of wood is required to keep the system running. Timber is brought from the estate and stacked in the wood yard where it awaits the mammoth wood chipper which is employed to…
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There has been a reptile sanctuary within the parkland for many years, but of late cattle that were in the area brought the fencing down and the refuge area became trampled. We are now working on another area where under the guidance of Nigel Hand we are hoping to encourage…
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An archaeological survey undertaken in 2001/2 identified the existence of what was indicated on a map as a ‘Summer House’. It wasn’t until the Fishpool Valley Project got underway and specific walk routes stared to be cleared that the Summer House site was uncovered. Closer archaeological investigation in the summer…
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The Woodland at Croft is in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme and an element of that is to clear the Silver Fir from the eastern side of the Fishpool Valley and bringing sunlight back into that part of Highwood Bank. Much of this work began back in 2012 and has been…
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It was the first day back after the Christmas & New Year break and a gentle start to the year with some pruning of the young apple trees in the New Orchard. However the older apple trees looked more like mistletoe trees and it was time to cut away the…
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This Spring (2019) it seemed to me that the Ash Trees were very late and struggling to come into leaf. By late Summer it was evident that Ash Dieback had really taken a hold and infected the majority of the trees in the Valley. Ash Dieback (Chalara fraxinea) is predicted…
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Back in 2013, I think it was back then, we planted some fruit trees in what is called the New Orchard which lies just to the north of the Castle. The Orchard isn’t new, it appears on some old maps under that name, however there were a few very old…
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Before work began on the major part of the restoration, we spent several weeks in February clearing trees that had been clear felled from the base of what was once pool seven, long since drained. Contractors had carried out the tree felling. We were left to collect up the fallen…
