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Lovingly restored Prospect Mound in Summerfields Wood is officially opened

Derek Binns, left, and Dominic Sabetian, right, at the official opening of Prospect Mound.

Derek Binns, left, and Dominic Sabetian, right, at the official opening of Prospect Mound.

The regeneration of Summerfields Wood reached another significant milestone last month with the official opening of the newly restored Prospect Mound. More than 100 people, including Gensing councillor Andrew Cartwright, attended the opening ceremony on the afternoon of Saturday 9th June, and many stayed to watch a boules tournament or take a guided walk of the wood led by Hastings Council’s ranger service. Braybrooke councillor Dominic Sabetian was invited to cut the ribbon, and praised local volunteer conservation group the Friends of Summerfields Wood, among others, for their dedicated work in restoring the mound and other parts of the wood.
The Friends were formed in 2004, and regular users of the wood will have noticed the new paths and handrails they’ve put in themselves, as well as the elegant sculptures they’ve commissioned from local wood sculptor Joc Hare, which act as watersheds or falls between the two ponds at the southern end of the wood.
The Prospect Mound project came about after Friends member Derek Binns, who also spoke at the opening ceremony, was exploring one of the overgrown banks that rise above the ravine, or ghyll, at the heart of the wood. ‘I found a small part of what turned out be a low wall,’ Derek told the Voice. ‘The mound was overgrown with holly, but I looked more closely and realised that a number of walls were more or less buried. This had to be significant, so I tracked down an Ordnance Survey map from 1873 on which the spiral walkways of a prospect mound are clearly marked. That was a very exciting moment.’
Using the 1873 map as their plan, the Friends secured a BBC Breathing Places grant to clear the mound and restore the original paths. They approached Joc Hare to oversee the project and to build the handrails and a wooden seat at the summit which are now features of the mound. The work was carried out in two intensive 13-day periods in the autumn of 2006 and in early spring this year, and involved 50 separate volunteers in total, drawn from the Friends and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.
Derek gave the Voice a guided tour of Prospect Mound and explained the origin of the name. ‘A prospect mound in a garden of this period was usually a conical hillock from which to survey the surrounding landscape. Our mound comes from the spoil heap that was made when the walled garden next to it was dug out in the first decade of Queen Victoria’s reign. It was landscaped to incorporate the spiral path, which was fortified throughout by low dry-stone revetments, or walls.’
The wooden handrails were built to replace the original holly-hedge maze that led to the top of the mound. As Joc Hare described it to us, ‘The site was completely overgrown with holly trees that had grown up where the hedge would have been. We’ve cut down or coppiced these trees and trained holly suckers or stems to eventually recreate the hedge. We’ve also planted a mixture of native species – hazel, hawthorn, gelder rose – which will mix with the holly as it grows. The handrail posts are made of sweet chestnut and inscribed with the names of the volunteers who worked on the project, while the handrails and ground retainers are made of boards cut from the felled hollies. In five to ten years, the posts and the handrails will be removed as the hedge grows to a decent size. The Friends will look after the hedge over time, though I’ll also come and help them on a voluntary basis.’
Derek Binns assured us that, despite the intensive effort involved in restoring Prospect Mound, the Friends will not be resting on their laurels for long. ‘We need a couple of months to get our breath back, and then we’ll see,’ he says. ‘I’m quite proud of what we’ve achieved up to now, but there’s more we could do, given the will and the means to do it.’

Crowds flock to the official opening of Prospect Mound in Summerfields Wood.

Crowds flock to the official opening of Prospect Mound in Summerfields Wood.


Summerfields Wood (green) with Prospect Mound (yellow).

Summerfields Wood (green) with Prospect Mound (yellow).


Wooden Ford (also known as Hendley Repose) by Joc Hare.

Wooden Ford (also known as Hendley Repose) by Joc Hare.


Wooden log-circle seat at the summit of Prospect Mound.

Wooden log-circle seat at the summit of Prospect Mound.


Logjam waterfall by wood sculptor Joc Hare.

Logjam waterfall by wood sculptor Joc Hare.


Horseshoe Sculpture

Horseshoe Sculpture

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