The Wychwood Project - 21 September 2021

It is a warm sunny September afternoon and as I type this, I can hear the chip-chipping sound of the volunteers from The Wychwood Project, as they cut the stones to rebuild our old Cotswold stone wall. The wall runs all the way alongside my meadow. It is an ancient wall, which adjoins an even older bridleway, rumoured to have been used by Oliver Cromwell's army in the 1600's. Thousands of walkers over hundreds of years have enjoyed this beautiful old wall.

Before we acquired the meadow last year, the wall had received no attention for many years and had become overrun with tree roots and ivy. There was a lot of clearing that needed to be done before the volunteer group could start work.

I head about the work of The Wychwood Project from my neighbour. They are a local team of skilled Cotswold stone wall builders, who work on a voluntary basis in public locations around the area. As my wall runs alongside a bridleway, they were able to help me rebuild a large section of the wall.

I have been hoping the wall builders would find some treasures as they dismantled the old wall, but apart from some nature finds, a horse shoe and modern day litter, no coins have surfaced yet. But there's still time and plenty of wall building to go, so fingers crossed we find a historic artefact before they finish their work.