Combe Valley Nature Project

Combe Valley Nature Project is delivered by Groundwork South charity (Hastings and Rother Combe Valley Team).

We are a small team dedicated to connecting local communities to Combe Valley Countryside Park, encouraging appreciation and protection of the wonderful wildlife and habitats found in the park, and highlighting steps that people can take to help nature in their own gardens, balconies and green spaces. We also teach people how to grow pollinator friendly flowers and fruits and vegetables in our raised beds. The project has a strong social ethos of providing opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, through practical volunteering, community and creative sessions, helping to prevent social isolation and equipping people with skills that may help with employment prospects.

There are three main aspects to the project:

Practical Volunteer Sessions: we run two practical conservation and community garden sessions a week: Mondays and Wednesdays, undertaking a wide range of activities including hedge and tree planting, woodland management, native tree nursery, watering, growing plants and vegetables. We have engaged over 70 volunteers over the past two years in these activities.

Education and Community Sessions: we run nature and environment focused sessions for local schools from primary to college aged students. Sessions take place in the park, both at the Discovery Centre and Community Garden and on the beach, as well as at school sites. Recent sessions have seen us taking our ‘Build a Tree’ sessions into local schools. This session focuses on the importance of trees and teaches students the different parts and functions of a tree by way of a very fun (and silly) interactive game where we build tree out of a class of thirty students. The session ends with the planting of a wild cherry in the school grounds. Community sessions range from family nature discovery sessions: Nature Detectives, held in the school holidays, to guided walks in the park, Community Garden Open Morning and Big Green Day events, local Scout group sessions and much more.

Working with Stakeholders: this underpins the work and success of the project and is key to protecting and enhancing both the Discovery Centre and Community Garden and the wider park. We are so grateful to our network of collaborators, including the Friends of Combe Valley and Combe Valley CIC, local councillors and councils, and local schools.