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Heathland is our main theme these days and we have compiled an
unrivalled resource of the ways our ancestors used the landscape
and its plants.
This talk has been said to be particularly fascinating and it is
being very well received. It is a combined look at both the plants
of the heathlands and the ways in which people used them in the past
as raw materials from which to raise a living. Plants range from
bracken and gorse through to the little insect-eating sundews. Topics
include making stained glass windows, bee skeps, brooms, wine, medicines,
candles and thatch for the roof. There was something to harvest every
month of the year and so the talk will vary monthly to suit the season.
For gardening groups there can be material on the heathers and brooms
in cultivation. The research has revealed fascinating insights into the
ways in which people lived, ways that are rarely cited because they were
for the poorest level of society and all the more fascinating for that.
If groups wish, the talk can contain the material about birch and gorse
that was televised and also include material from the paper presented to
the National Heathland Conference in 2004, explaining how our ancestors
had to achieve a balance between the different ways they used the heath
so as not to destroy it as a renewable resource. This talk, and guided
rambles, are proving very popular with both the public and conservationists.
This is the successor to the former "Heathland Harvest" talk.
Next Talk : Gorse, Broom and Heathlands
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