Landkey Village

In Brief  

In Brief

Find the Landkey Village Open Forum on:

Next Event

Our next village event will be St Paul's Pet Blessing and Teddy Bears' Picnic on 23rd August 2026 at 3:00 PM in St Paul's Church garden

Parish Council

Read the Parish Council Minutes of 3rd June 2026

Our next Parish Council meeting will be on 2nd September 2026 at 7:00 PM in The Old School Centre, Manor Road

Community Information

MP Ian Roome

Mobile library timetable

Millennium Green

Latest News

LUC grants

Landkey organisations or individuals might be eligible for a grant through Landkey United Charities.

Newsletter

Read the latest
Landkey Newsletter
here

Recent Images

Mazzard trees in blossom on the Millennium Green, 2026. Image courtesy of Charles Waldron 21st April 2026.

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Landkey Millennium Green

History

A happy coincidence of three things can explain the Millennium Green.

First, there was a site. After a relentless campaign in the late 1990s, led by the Parish Council and its Chairman, Dick Joy, planning permission for a significant part of a proposed housing development (including the Green) was refused. Pearce Construction offered surplus land to the Parish Council, and this became divided between land for the Millennium Green and a new football field.

Second, funding became available. The new National Lottery made £2.7billion available for projects to mark the new Millennium. These included funds to establish new green public open spaces in a scheme administered by the Countryside Agency.

Third, there was an identity, a Mazzard Orchard (- see page on Mazzards), which assisted the fields of rather featureless pasture land to meet the Countryside Agency’s criteria. In 1998 a plan and costings for the Green were prepared. The application to the Countryside Agency was successful, and matching funding (of which the value of the donated was the most significant item) was realised. Preliminary work included the undergrounding of an electricity line which straddled the site and a new bridge across the stream on the Tarka Trail. Mazzard trees were planted by children in December 1999, and on 24th June 2000 the Green was formally opened.

Although the Green’s ‘furniture’ was in place it took time for trees to grow up. Paths were resurfaced in 2009/10. Early in 2012 the Arch at the entrance to the Orchard was erected in memory of Dick Joy. In June 2016 a survey revealed that there were 200 uses of the Green each day; it had become both a maturing orchard and very popular. New housing off Birch Road, sold as ‘Mazzard View’ but now known as Harford Way, together with the new MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area) and Allotments, led to new access points from 2017.

Up to this time much of the maintenance of the Green had been organised by former trustee Norman Tucker who had previously farmed the land. He also loaned a tractor. The site of his barn became a site for a community building, and containers were provided for the storage of the tractor and other equipment.

The Trust’s 21st birthday celebration in 2021 was popular and well attended. A new tractor was on display, acquired thanks to the generosity of Norman Tucker and family, and the Trust was presented with the Landkey Community Shield. The value of the Green to the village during the Covid epidemic was acknowledged.

Images of the Millennium Green - how it all began (click to enlarge)

Millennium Green opening day, 24th June 2000. Standing, l-r: Dave Butt (District Councillor), Kate Ashbrook (a member of the Countryside Agency board and access officer for the Ramblers' Association), Richard (Dick) Joy (Landkey Parish Councillor), Michael Gee (a planner who played a large part in submitting the funding bid for the Green), Nick Harvey (MP), Norman Tucker (farmer on whose land the Green was created). Seated, l-r: Lyn Morton (Landkey Parish Councillor), Jane Barton (Millennium Green Trust secretary), Karen Trigger (Millennium Green Trustee), Mrs Tucker. Image courtesy of Karen Trigger. Millennium Green opening day, 24th June 2000, with mazzard sapling. L-r: Michael Knight (County Councillor), Kate Ashbrook, Dave Butt, Dave Parsons (Pearce Construction Ltd), Dick Joy, Norman Tucker, Jane Barton and Karen Trigger. Image courtesy of Karen Trigger. Millennium Green opening day, 24th June 2000. Kate Ashbrook, Dick Joy and Nick Harvey display the newly-created "Millennium Greens Breathing Spaces" plaque. Image courtesy of Karen Trigger. Pioneers of the Millennium Green gather for a picture after planting mazzards in December 1999. Dick Joy can be seen seated next to the Landkey Millennium Green sign. Image courtesy of Karen Trigger. Children were involved in the planting of mazzards on the Millennium Green in December 1999. Image courtesy of Karen Trigger. As the 21st anniversary of the establishment of the Green arrives in 2020, it is interesting to wonder where these children who would now be in their 30s, are and what they are doing. Image courtesy of Karen Trigger.