Hartington Wildflower Trail

Aim

Create a village trail linking community wildflower areas together, informing and educating about nature & how we can all help protect it

Who are we?

Hartington Wildflowers are a group of local volunteers who develop and maintain community wildflower areas across our village, which is located in the beautiful White Peaks of the Derbyshire Peak district. We work closely with many local organisations and groups including the village primary school, church, parish council and YHA.

We have three main aims:

1. To address the challenges of sustainability, care of the environment and natural world: we have created eleven community wildflower areas since 2021, planting local native wildflowers and providing new habitats for our local wildlife.

2. Provide a means to promote physical and mental health and well-being: being outdoors and close to nature has proven health benefits and is fun as well (even when the weather isn't so good!) Especially important in a rural community where social isolation is a particular challenge.

3. Encourage community collaboration: having a wide cross section of the community, of all ages, involved is very important to us - providing opportunities for members of the community to take an active role in looking after where they live, and creating a strong sense of community purpose. 

Our project

Now we have developed these individual havens for wildlife, our project is to create a wildflower trail linking them together for both residents and visitors alike to enjoy. This will give an opportunity to explore more of the village and each of the areas, whilst at the same time providing the means to educate and inform those who walk the trail with information about local wildlife, and actions we can all take to protect nature and reduce our impact on the environment - we can all make a difference by taking small steps is one of our key messages

To do this, each area will have a noticeboard with artwork from local artists along with narrative, and in addition local artists will also create a series of wildlife sculptures along the trail. A wildflower trail map will also be created - available both on line and in paper copy from local shops .

What will funds raised by used for?

Tools and materials to create the noticeboards and sculptures, printing costs for the trail map leaflets and to develop our website. Time and effort will be provided by our amazing group of volunteers free of charge.

This project successfully funded on 25th December 2023