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 to see our future and currents events and projects, as well as our Photo Gallery from the previous year!
Forthcoming events (those in italics are run by other organisations, do please contact them direct for more)
Winter 2025
| Monday 10 March |
Chulmleigh Garden Society presents: 'Ponds and Water Gardening': Speaker - Becca Flintham. 7.30pm on in The Town Hall Chulmleigh. £3 for non- members. |
| Saturday 22nd March |
Repair Cafe, 1pm till 4pm, Town Hall |
| Saturday 22nd March |
Willow planting event at Broadridge Farm, Witheridge (part of the Dayshul Brake wilding cluster), to grow lots of future food for our resident beavers. 10am till 1pm with an after lunch tour of the beaver enclosure. Email broadridgefarm@gmail.com or call 07934 473 246 for more details and to book |
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Spring/ Summer 2025
| Friday 4th April |
High Bickington Community Woodland Committee presents: 'Devon's Wonderful Hedges'. Speaker - Dr Robert Wolton, 7pm for 7.30pm at High Bickington Community Centre EX27 9HG. £5, £2.50 for students |
| Sunday 27th April |
Plant Hunt at Cadbury Cottage, 2pm till 4pm |
| Wednesday 30th April |
Broadridge Farm visit, 2pm start |
| Wednesday 28th May |
A guided walk around Taw River Dairy with Sam and Gemma Bullingham, 2pm start |
| Early summer (May) |
Walk and Chalk round Chulmleigh |
| 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.... |
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Autumn 2025
| October/ November |
An evening with Sustainable Chulmleigh |
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Current projects
Farm Producers Directory
After the well-attended talk on regenerative farming (6 Inches of Soil 6th Dec 24), it was clear that there is an appetite to support local regenerative and organic farmers selling directly to the public. The question was asked how do we find them? Jo Moser has offered to compile a local list of farmers for our website, with a brief spiel about each one, beginning in the new year. Happy to go Devon wide. But we need your help to find these farmers. Happy to include those starting on the sustainable journey. Please email contact details now (with very brief info – meat, dairy, veg etc) to jomoser@btinternet.com. We also plan to include farm shops which are buying local.
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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.
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Creating a pond and wildlife area at Cadbury Cottage
Jack and David are rewilding their ten acres at Cadbury Cottage and working with Sustainable Chulmleigh to develop a pond and wildlife area for pre-invited community use. Some of our ideas and activities are listed below.
If you would like to be involved, please email jack@relaxed.org.uk.
- developing a large pond area (roughly 10 square metres) to attract wildlife
- planting native plants along the pond margins
- building platforms and shelving for amphibian (and other wildlife) use which can then be used for pond dipping
- setting up a bird feeding station for watching and photography
- putting benches round the pond for quiet contemplation and nature watching
- developing the adjacent stable building as a place for refreshments and education
- running bat watching evenings
- running moth traps and monitoring moth species throughout the year
- running nature workshops with different community groups, young and old
- music, art and poetry afternoons/ evenings
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Rewilding a part of the Churchyard
We are delighted to be working with Little Dart Mission Community to rewild a part of the churchyard with a view to opening it up more to the local community. At a recent meeting (Aug 24), the following ideas were discussed, with the next stage to set up a few working parties to get these ideas up and running. If you would like to be involved, please email nickwithers2012@gmail.com.
- wild flower areas
- a family-friendly area with natural rustic low seating
- features such as bug hotel, nature table and log pile for observing
- a trail of information boards with possible QR code links
- improvement of the plant bio diversity by adding plants and sowing seeds when the grass is cut.
- picnic bench sited somewhere for quiet picnics amongst wildlife
- tree trails
- seeds and pots for children to grow plants and then return to plant them in the area
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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.
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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Photo gallery of past events
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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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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Tree and Hedge Planting at Cadbury Cottage - 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 Ashreigny 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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'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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Pond Day at Cadbury Cottage - 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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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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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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Plant Hunt at Cadbury Cottage - 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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