SULGRAVE'S POCKET PARK
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Beyond the garages on Towrise lies a piece of land, roughly triangular in shape and almost one acre in extent. Under a scheme promulgated by Northamptonshire Countryside Services, this has been designated Sulgrave's "Pocket Park". Pocket Parks are defined as small areas of countryside which are owned, managed and cherished by a local community for its own enjoyment and for the protection of wildlife and green open spaces.
The land in question has long been used as a play area by the village children, and will continue to be so used; a part (marked A on the sketch map) will be mowed regularly throughout the spring and summer and it is hoped that play equipment will be erected here in due course.
The remainder will be 'managed' as a sort of mini-nature reserve. It is bounded on the north-west by a row of mature willow and ash trees, following the course of one of the small streams which form the River Tove; along the eastern boundary is a rather neglected hedge with hawthorn, blackthorn, dogwood and one or two tree species. As the land has remained uncultivated (and therefore unsprayed) for many years, there is already present a small variety of wild flowers, and it is proposed to increase their numbers by growing others from seed and transplanting them into the grassy areas, which will be divided into two broad bands. Area B may be called a "spring meadow", with early-flowering plants, where the grass will be cut in July, after these flowers have set their seed, and again in September; and Area C, the summer meadow, with later flowers, which will be mowed once only, in September. As most wild flowers tend to prefer poor soils, the cut vegetation will be removed and not allowed to rot as it lies. It is hoped to create a small "butterfly garden" in one of the sheltered sunny corners. A short stretch of new hedge has been planted on either side of the entrance, and a number of native trees have been added to the young trees already present, mainly in Area D, to form a small woodland area.