Landkey Village

Landkey Millennium Green is a beautiful large space, open to all. It is owned by a charitable Trust, (no 1077132). The Trust’s deed sets out a Statement of Aims saying that the Green must contribute to the community by being open to all for exercise, social interaction and events, with areas for people to enjoy nature and wildlife as well as appreciating the local environment. Trustees uphold these aims, manage the Green and ensure secure funding. Trustees are villagers who welcome comments and enquiries. There is a well advertised Annual General Meeting, open to all, each April.

The trustees, as at April 2025 are:

• Martin Lusby (Chair)
• Lynden Davies (Treasurer)
• Lee Consterdine - (Secretary - leeconsterdine@yahoo.co.uk)
• Jann Wirtz
• Jack Woolfenden - resigned
• Pat Redwood

Visiting the Green
The Green is always open. It is an area of over 2 hectares (nearly 6 acres). There are five entry points, and the Green is signed from the public car park behind the Castle pub.

There are surfaced paths, mown grass, benches and picnic tables. By using other paths it is possible to have circular walks, and one path through the Green is part of the Tarka Trail from Barnstaple to Exmoor.

The Green embraces a remarkable range of natural features, -woodland, pollination meadow, a unique orchard of rare mazzard (black cherry) trees, local variety apple trees, an ancient Devon bank, the line of a former leat which once took stream water to drive a sawmill, and a stream bank. 

Trustees of Millennium Greens are charged with making them places where people can have close encounters with Nature. Concerns about the worldwide state of Nature and changes to the village of Landkey make this important.

To mark the Green’s twenty first birthday a leaflet was published highlighting the Green’s remarkable assemblage of natural features, (wood, grass, hedge banks, orchard, old leat and stream), and how they could be enhanced. Since then, with the help of volunteers, there have been new nest boxes, bluebells and snowdrops in the wood, new berry-bearing shrubs in the hedge bank, and  meadows, (so good for pollination), have been established.

In 2023 the Trust was awarded a Heritage Lottery grant to be used on enhancing the wood, meadow management, the old leat, as well as new equipment and a store and base for volunteers. Notices on the Green will explain the Green’s remarkable natural heritage.

 

Monthly calendar and events (Forthcoming events will be advertised on the "Social" section of this website)
There is always something planned or happening on the Green. 

January: Landkey Sings! arrange their popular Wassail - a Landkey original because we celebrate mazzard trees.

February: We check nest boxes in BirdBox Week and plant snowdrops and bluebells ‘in the green’. The hedges may be cut now.

March: Grass mowing starts and we cut our meadow, too, to stop the grass growing ahead of the wildflowers. 

April sees the apples and mazzards blossoming, with a walk explaining the mazzard story. 

May : the meadow and leat are rich with flowers.                                         

June/July: Mazzards start ripening in June and are ready in July.  

August/September: The apples (local varieties), are early ones, so they are ready this month and villagers can help themselves. August/September: most of the flowers in the meadow will have died back. We will then cut the meadow and gather up the hay at the end of August/begining of September. New seed may be sown the following year.

November: If work in the woods is required it will usually be done from November onwards.