Grange Park

March 2021

Grange Park is an area of approximately two acres of former agricultural land. It came into the ownership of the Parish Council as part of a planning requirement when the housing development known as Church Grange off Sudbrooke Road was proposed in 1992. The sum of £10,000 came with the land; this money was invested so that the interest could be used to meet the costs of developing and maintaining the park.

The Park can be reached via the fieldpath off Church Street opposite the Church, at the end of The Alders or from the fieldpath off Nettleham Road near Cade Close. It is marked on the village map in the information centre near the bus shelter on Main Street.
Important information, including bye laws is displayed on a notice board near the entrance to the park from Church Street.

In 1994, two residents of the village, Janis Mason and Maureen Akester, led a project to develop the land as a conservation area. During the next three years there was some planting of trees, wildflowers and shrubs. In 1997, a management group was formed to oversee future developments.

Over time, about 100 trees have been planted including acer, alder, ash, beech (common and purple), birch, cherry (wild and weeping), crab apple, horse chestnut, lime, maple (field and purple), oak, pine, plane, redwood, rowan, spindle, sweet chestnut, sycamore and walnut. A number of trees are now well established although others did not survive including a donated Millennium Yew. Trees have been provided by Lincolnshire County Council, Parish Council and residents as memorial trees.

During the spring/early summer of 2001, activity took place to establish a wildflower meadow and an area containing flowers traditional to a Lincolnshire cornfield was planted. This was made possible by various grants and expert knowledge provided by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. 

To celebrate the Diamond Jubilee (2012) of HM Queen Elizabeth II an Ellison apple tree was planted in 2012 at a Jubilee Festival and a sapling oak grown from a seed from one of the royal household estates was planted in 2013 and dedicated by the Revd Adam Watson.

A number of plug plants were planted in the central area of the park in May 2016 and are thriving. Fieldpaths will remain for residents and visitors to enjoy the park.

There are seats in Grange Park that have been supplemented by simple benches at the Cade Close end so that people can sit and enjoy the trees, flowers and wildlife that may visit the area.

A wildlife refuge has been created from branches and twigs that have been removed from trees. 

A Community Heritage Orchard was created in 2018 on an area previously utilised as an annual wildflower area. The trees have been underplanted with wild daffodils.

Funding to create the orchard came from a contribution from the West Lindsey District Councillor Initiative Fund and some of the surplus funds from the Neighbourhood Plan as a community orchard was identified as an aspiration of the Plan. The trees were all purchased from the East of England Apples and Orchards Project and planted at the end of March 2018.

The trees were chosen because they have a Lincolnshire connection. A brief summary and plan are also posted on the noticeboard near the entrance to The Alders. It is intended that residents of Scothern harvest the fruit. 

There are two trees of each of the following varieties 

Hunthouse Pippin      Broadholme Beauty   Bolingbroke Beauty          

Ellison’s Orange        Herring’s Pippin        Isaac Newton’s Tree             Peasgood’s Nonsuch August 2020

Click on the image below to enlarge it. It can also be reviewed and/or downloaded HERE in PDF format.