Events and Projects
We run a variety of events which are open to everyone including: our popular repair café; visits to local wildlife, conservation and rewilded areas; visiting speakers; wildlife walks; bird nest box building and checking; plant hunts; coffee mornings and many more.
At any one time we are also involved in one or more community projects such as rewilding areas and tree planting.
Scroll down or use the drop down menu to see all that we are involved in.
Events Diary
Spring/ Summer 2025
| Wednesday 30th April |
Broadridge Farm visit, 2pm till 5pm
Join Dorette Engi as she walks you round herextensive ponds and wetland area and talks about rewilding, beavers and habitat creation. Good walking shoes a must and wet weather gear just in case. EX16 8QB
Donations welcome, refreshments available |
| Saturday 3rd May |
Sustainable Chulmleigh will be at Catkin Blooms, Winkleigh at their Seed Swap and Green Day |
| Friday 9th May |
Walk and Chalk round Chulmleigh, starting from the Primary School at 3.45pm |
| Friday 16th May |
'Farming the Flood' and 'Balancing the Scales' - film viewings and expert panel - more details soon |
| Wednesday 28th May |
A guided walk around Taw River Dairy with Sam and Gemma Bullingham, 2pm start |
| Sunday 8th June |
Chulmleigh Open Gardens (fundraiser for SC and ND Hospice) |
| Saturday 21st June |
Roborough Rewilders visit, 2.30pm start |
| End June |
Repair Cafe, 1pm till 4pm, Town Hall |
| Saturday 19th July |
Summer Gathering at Cadbury Cottage: talks, tours, books, birds, invertebrates and bats.... |
| Sunday 20th July |
Sustainable Chulmleigh will be at Taw River Dairy Open Day - more details soon. |
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Autumn 2025
| September onwards |
The start of our autumn season of speakers.. more coming soon |
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The Relaxed Sanctuary at Cadbury Cottage
Jack and David are, with the help of Sustainable Chulmleigh, rewilding their ten acres at Cadbury Cottage and the land is now being used for events and projects. We have been awarded a grant from the National Trust to help us cater for visiting groups to take part in a wide variety of activities from pond dipping to moth trapping to surveying the flora and fauna. Thanks also to Keiran, Devon Wildlife Trust, Devon County Council, The Trees Trust and Tamar Trees for supplying us with upwards of 1400 trees, all free via a variety of schemes and grants.
Please scroll down to see what has happened to date and/or see their website for more.
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A Second Plant Hunt - April 27th 2025
Another abulous Plant Hunt here at Cadbury Cottage this afternoon - huge thanks to Amy Roberts, Lynda Pons and Dorette Eli for all their help and support as well as plant and cake contributions.
Fran (from the Wren Choir that some of us belong to) turned out to be a bit of an expert botanist. She found EIGHTY species in an hour and a half - which is almost HALF of the total species we found on our Plant A Day mission last year - lots are ones we haven't found so we now need to find them and get them photographed, recorded and added to the website
The weather was perfect, everyone was relaxed, some fabulous new friends were made AND we took just under £100 for Sustainable Chulmleigh which will enable us to put on more events over the coming months.
And if you missed it, we will be holding another one later in the year. Keep an eye on the website for news of this and all the other events we have planned.
 
 
 
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Final Tree Planting - April 10th 2025
Stunning afternoon with The Amber Foundation, planting the last of our trees here at Cadbury Cottage (The Relaxed Sanctuary). Despite the lack of rain, the ground was still damp once we got the spades in (although that was hard work at times 😅).
We now have around 1400 on the land - so looking forward to seeing how they grow over the next few years.
HUGE thank you to the residents who came - loved our tea and biscuits in the barn afterwards discussing whether it was jam or cream first and how to mix up butter and marmalade and 'then' spread it on your hot toast!! Yum Yum...
 
 
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Tree and Hedge Planting - January 4th and 5th 2025
A totally fabulous weekend planting trees and hedging at Cadbury Cottage. 19 species (Beech, Bird Cherry, Blackthorn, Buckthorn, Crab Apple, Dog Rose, Downy Birch, Elder, Guilder Rose, Hawthorn, Hazel, Hornbeam, Lime, Oak, Rowan, Spindle, Sweet Chestnut, Wayfaring and Wild Cherry) and around 1200 ish individual plants. Seven mini copses of around 50/60 trees each and four new hedges were created.
HUGE thanks to all the volunteers who came to help: Nick, Claire, Mike, Felix, Julie, Andy, Dennis, Ellie, Viv and Kelly and Amy and her seven Ashreigney volunteers.. The weather was kind as despite heavy rains on both Friday and Saturday nights, it stayed dry during the day.
We are planning a fair few events at Cadbury Cottage over the coming year: Pond days, Plant Hunts, Summer conference, Moth trapping and more.... keep an eye on the website for further details....
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Pond Day - November 3rd 2024
When many hands make light work !!
We had a great turnout for our pond margin planting day at Cadbury cottage, for Sustainable Chulmleigh.
David and Jack are slowly rewilding their former smallholding… and in return for a couple of hours labour rewarded us all with delicious home made bread, soup and cake.
Some of the tasks we helped with were removing a redundant wire chicken coop in preparation for planting willow, and planting perennials around the outside margin of the pond. A shallow shelf was dug within the pond itself to allow easy access / exit points for wildlife.
All in all, a great days work.
 
 
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Plant Hunt - September 8th 2024
Despite the weather we had a good turnout for our plant hunt today generously hosted by Jack and David.
A walk around their lovely small holding followed by delicious cakes and refreshments in the barn.
What a lovely way to spend a Sunday… another event is already being planned for spring!
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Blue Heart Campaign - Rewilding Britain, Garden by Garden
Bring your local area to life with the BLUE campaign.
The Blue campaign was founded in 2014 by wildlife film maker Fergus Beeley, in response to dramatic bio diversity and biomass declines in the UK. Easy and effective, the only requirement is to allow a patch of land to grow and see what plants and creatures return. A 'blue heart' can then be placed in the area to show you are part of the campaign. We are working with Chulmleigh Primary and residents on this campaign.
If you would like a Blue Heart for your garden or private space, please email Kelly Vipond kelsterb@hotmail.com.
Please note that to place a blue heart in a 'public' space you need the permission of the appropriate authority and goodwill of the community!
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Blue Heart Display - April 25
Thank you to Gemma from The Craft Room Workshop and Supplies for creating this beautiful display for the blue heart campaign. She is kindly showing off the first wooden blue hearts that will be auctioned off next month.
Here's a useful link for making your garden more wildlife friendly:
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Chulmleigh Primary School - April 25
This morning, the beautiful blue hearts painted by the children were put in position at Chulmleigh Primary School.
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Chulmleigh Primary School - April 25
Year 6 painting blue hearts to put into their
school grounds,
 
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Community Allotment
| Sustainable Chulmleigh is delighted to have one of the new allotments in the town. The plan is this for this to become a community allotment for anyone who is interested in helping to grow food for themselves and others. No previous experience is necessary. We hope to establish areas of soft fruit as well as growing seasonal vegetables in the spring and summer. There will also be activities for young children.
If you would like to be involved, please email nickwithers2012@gmail.com. |
Compost - March 25
Work has started on our new allotment. Ready for spring planting soon!
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Strimming - March 25
Sustainable Chulmleigh allotment should be up and running soon. Strimmed this morning. Compost coming for raised beds w/c 17/03. If anyone would like to give us a hand with this exciting new community space please shout!
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Films and Speakers
| Each autumn we host a series of speakers and films on a variety of subjects to inspire, educate and hopefully encourage more sustainable and wildlife-friendly thoughts and actions. |
An evening with Professors Fiona Matthews and Tim Kendall authors of ‘Black Ops and Beaver Bombing - February 28th 2025
What a great evening: Fiona and Tim gave a great talk about the status of mammals in the UK and after a welcome bar break there was a lively q and a session. The event was very well attended by over 40 people. This was a great talk to end our Autumn/Winter lecture series.
Fiona is Chair of Mammal Conservation Europe and Professor of environmental biology at the University of Sussex, and Tim is Professor of English Literature at the University of Exeter. Black Ops and Beaver Bombing is a celebration of Britain’s marvelous mammals, and a rallying cry to save them
 
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'Six Inches of Soil' Screening - December 6th 2024
A great evening yesterday for our screening of ‘Six Inches of Soil’ co-hosted by North Devon Biosphere and Sustainable Chulmleigh. Attended by over 80 people.
A film about young regenerative farmers, it offered great insight into the challenges facing farmers in this changing climate.
Followed a lively discussion with a panel of local farmers, expertly chaired by Mike Moser. Huge thanks to the panel: Sam Bullingham,
Leica Lucas Ridge,
Tim Budden and
Amy Thomas.
More to follow on our newsletter later this month.
To sign up email info@sustainablechulmleigh.org.uk
 
 
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An evening with Maddy Harland - November 1st 2024
'Permaculture and Rewilding: uneasy bedfellows?' was the title for Maddy Harland's talk at the start of November. Maddy's deep knowledge and passion for our natural world shone through as she guided us through the relationship of growing and maintaining a healthy soil. A lively Q and A session followed, with plenty of discussion. Food for thought!
 
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An evening with Hugh Warwick - September 20th 2024
Hugh Warwick - 'Hedgehog Hugh' and author of Cull of the Wild gave a fabulous talk to a hall over 60 people at The Pavilion in Chulmleigh. His talk centered around the question 'Should we kill in the name of conservation?' and with a Q&A that lasted as long as the talk itself, it is safe to say, the event was a huge success. Hugh hopes to return next year with a talk specifically on hedgehogs.
 
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Networking and Fundraising
| Networking and fundraising are key to our work. We fundraise so we can continue to organise and host our many events and projects and at the same time, build relationships with individuals and other organisations. |
Sustainable Chulmleigh Coffee Morning - Saturday 5th April
A big Thankyou to everyone who came along and supported our Sustainable Chulmleigh coffee morning.
We are delighted to say we raised £460 profit which will enable us to continue running our events.
An extra big Thankyou to all who baked, provided draw prizes and who gave up their time to help make the event such a success.
 
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Repair Cafés
| Our Repair Cafés are always held in the Town Hall, usually on a Saturday morning. We run them three to four times a year. Everyone is welcome to bring along broken items or clothes alterations and we will do our best to fix them!
Coffee, tea and cake always available |
Repair Café - September 14th 2024
Nish and Nick doing stirling work sharpening over 30 pairs of garden shears and secateurs.
As always, a big Thank you to all our volunteers.
 
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Workshops
| We run a variety of workshops and similar events where you can come along and learn a new skill as well as helping specific nature recovery projects. |
Pied Flycatcher nest box building in the Town Hall - Sunday 9th March
What a fabulous turnout for our Pied Flycatcher nest box building: over 20 enthusiastic volunteers turned up at the Town Hall and within what felt like minutes, suddenly we had 30 complete next boxes. Over 20 went off to a local woodland (and huge thanks to the owners for funding the whole project) and the rest went to the workshop volunteers. We were especially delighted to welcome several young people from the Amber Foundation and look forward to welcoming them to future events too. Everyone was treated to tea, coffee and cake as a thank you with the blueberry cake and flapjacks being singled out for special praise. Huge, huge thanks to everyone who came.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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