Purton Parish Council has the pleasure and responsibility for maintenance and enhancement, where feasible, for several open spaces within Purton including The Dingle, The Paddock, Harvest Water and Harold Waldron’s Wall.
An open space owned by Purton Parish Council located next to Purton Village Hall to the rear of the car park.
PADDOCK CHANGE OF USE
Currently the field behind the village hall is effectively waste land and has the potential to be used more effectively for the benefit of the village. Currently, there are two residents, Dr Pete Sarson and Mr Gavin James, who are beekeepers in the village. Both apiarists bring benefits to the village by keeping bees at their homes. As most will know, honeybees and pollinators are in decline worldwide therefore any form of management and control of the bee population is of benefit both locally and nationally. Both Pete and Gavin are registered beekeepers with the BBKA and are insured under their membership of the organization. This brings benefits to them in being able to join local beekeeping conventions and educational programs. Pete will sit to become a qualified beekeeper under the 2025 cohort. He is also the contact person for the Council if there are issues with swarms or other honeybee related problems in the village.
BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY - To help the above beekeepers in their efforts, the council has leased the paddock to them for 1 year from April 2025 to host 4 beehives. This will be used to hive captured swarms from around the village or where a new hive is required to prevent swarming on one of their existing hives. Also, there will be swarm traps installed on site in the event a wild swarm occurs, the swarming bees could find a new home without causing a problem to the residents. This will reduce the overall inconvenience caused to the local community for the natural behaviour that can occur in late spring and early summer. Also, as there will be a new site for a bee population in the village, the local flora and fauna will get a boost from their presence. Other than humans, the only other creature that takes more than is needed are honeybees, if managed correctly, a beekeeper creates a hive that has the excess honey stored such that this can be removed without negative effects to the bees. With all such land arrangements, the beekeeper usually donates an amount of honey to the landowner as a form of payment, in this case, honey will be donated to the Purton Red House for their honey glazed carrots and parsnips for the Sunday roasts. This is the definition of local food and zero food miles. All in all, we believe this is great ECO initiative on behalf of Purton Council.
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The Dingle was part of the original Cricket Field which formed the home of the Purton Cricket Club in 1820. The area now known as the Dingle was used for the storage of the horses that pulled the roller that maintained the pitch.
When the horses were no longer required, the Dingle was kept separate from the Cricket Grounds and kept as an area of natural beauty. The Dingle was planted with trees as part of the Millennium celebrations by the community and local businesses and today the trees thrive under the untouched beauty of this area.
The area, including the cricket pitch was gifted to the Parish Council who now manage the area allowing flora and fauna to flourish. The Purton Cricket Club continues to manage the Cricket Pitch located to the top of The Dingle.
In 2016 a notice board depicting the area, its wildlife and origins was installed as above picture donates. Future plans for the area including replanting of trees lost through the 2021 AshDie Back epidemic and a program of works planting regional bulbs to include bluebells, snowdrops and cowslips.
