West Wight People and Place: John Jordan and the Wildflower Meadows
The latest in the West Wight People and Place series on the Biosphere Stories blog by Pete Johnstone. What gives an area its sense of place? The answer to this question might lie in the landscape or in the distinctive buildings of the place. Community interaction may also be important, as well as a sense of wellbeing and culture or the knowledge that people may hold for their immediate surroundings.
The strength and diversity of the local economy may also feature as well as any attachment that people hold for the area, be they visitors, recent newcomers or born and bred residents who can trace their family ties back generations.
In an attempt to answer this question, Pete Johnstone set himself a challenge and that was to find the sense of place of West Wight through photographing people living and working in the area and asking them about their connection to this largely rural area.
John Jordan, creator of the Honnor and Jeffrey wildflower meadow (taken in 2023).
Congratulations should go to the business Honnor and Jeffrey for sowing a wildflower meadow on the two fields adjacent to their Afton Garden Centre and the End of the Line Cafe in Freshwater.
The meadow and its beautiful array of wildflowers.
Freshwater resident Pete Johnstone was so impressed with the meadow that he got in touch with the company who put him in touch with John Jordan, the Groundsman who undertook the meadow creation.
John Jordan explained that the land had always been kept neat by mowing the grass, but it had served no real purpose and the idea of creating a wildflower meadow on the land had been in the planning for several years. In the autumn of 2022, with 15kg of seed purchased, the field was rotovated and the seed was sown.
Previously fields of mown grass, the greater diversity of these wildflower meadows can support more invertebrates and all the other species that rely on them.
“We then just waited” said John, “as wildflower meadow creation can be really fickle at times, but the first year of the meadow flowers have exceeded all our expectations”.
A native seed mix of 27 species was chosen, including Common Poppy, Corn Chamomile and Corn Cockle and John plans to do some mowing and re-sowing later in late Summer to keep the meadow in top condition. He reckons that in the coming years the meadow will look even better, “although its all dependent on the weather”.
It’s not always easy to start a wildflower meadow, so to have such success in just one or two years is impressive.
Pete Johnstone who took the photos in 2023 and 2024 said, “By creating this wildflower rich meadow, Honnor and Jeffrey have not only created a valuable wildlife habitat they have also made a positive contribution to the landscape of the Yar river corridor that runs from Yarmouth to Freshwater Bay.
“To my mind”, Pete says, “this is an excellent and very practical example of a business contributing the Island's Biosphere Reserve and should be commended”.
The Interpretation board from a previous project that sits in the meadow and raises awareness of some of the wide variety of wildlife that can be found along the River Yar and the Freshwater Trail in West Wight.
Photography © Pete Johnstone
