The Bourne Conservation Group

The Bourne Conservation Group (BCG) is a voluntary organisation working for the benefit of the natural environment and residents of South Farnham. Founded in 2002, BCG’s work is focussed on the enhancement of biodiversity throughout the local area, spread over a number of sites. Its work also assists local authorities in the maintenance and improvement of public open areas and rights-of-way, a need that has increased as public sector resources steadily reduce.

The Bourne is a relatively ‘green’ and attractive area with some distinctive features that make it a popular place to live. Part of this is the network of small woods and over 10 miles of footpaths and bridleways. At the start of BCG’s work the woods were overgrown with an under-storey of laurel and holly, and some of the rights-of-way were virtually impassable. This situation has now greatly improved and a Footpath Warden Scheme provides a quick response to problems as they occur. Many of the paths run along the valley of The Bourne Stream and a successful project, launched at the initiative of the group, has been to rid this watercourse of Himalayan Balsam. This has helped to give an understanding of the problems of invasive, exotic species more generally.

As the group has grown, increasingly ambitious projects have been tackled, for each of which funds have been raised with the generous help of excellent organisations such as the Community Foundation of Surrey. The first independent project consisted of clearing an overgrown and litter-strewn embankment near the Bourne Crossroads and planting it with shrubs and wildflowers. Included in the design for this prominent site was the creation of a raised flower bed, which has recently been replaced and enhanced in partnership with Surrey Highways.

Each project has been approached in a similar way, using the Surrey Biodiversity Action Plan as a guide and drawing upon advice from colleagues in the Surrey Wildlife Trust and other professional organisations as required. In this way the group’s own expertise in local wildlife and habitat creation has increased considerably. This has allowed responsibility to be assumed for two larger sites: the Middle Bourne Lane Community Wildlife Garden and the Old Bourne Churchyard. After a lot of hard work, both are now much more attractive places both for people and wildlife.

In 2008 the Old Churchyard had become sadly neglected, overgrown and gloomy. The serious consequences of allowing this decline to continue were recognised and, in conjunction with the Vicar of St Thomas-on-The Bourne, a project plan was agreed to develop the biodiversity of the site and restore its heritage aspects. The theme was to preserve the existing atmosphere of ‘pleasing decay’ while fostering wildlife and safeguarding the monuments. This has been achieved by letting in more light across the whole churchyard, by removing overgrown and invasive plants, and creating a small wildlife pond, just as was done in the Middle Bourne Lane garden.

There is a close association between environmental conservation and the heritage of the area, so a historical project has been launched to trace and record information about the 700 or so people buried in the Old Churchyard and how they contributed to the evolution of the local community. This information and much more about all the project work is available on the BCG website at www.bourneconservation.org.uk.

For the future, the group intends to continue enhancing the open spaces already being worked upon, and to extend its involvement as resources allow: for example, work is now being undertaken in the woodland in Langham’s Recreation Ground. All of these activities make a contribution to the Farnham in Bloom competition and BCG is proud to have shared in the town’s recent successes. If you are interested in working outside with a friendly group in some of the most attractive places in the area, please consider joining us as a volunteer member. Our main sessions are on Sunday mornings once a month, and for those with the time we have some smaller mid-week activities. You can also support our work as a Friend of BCG.

Baking at Easter – Easter Egg Biscuits

Easter is always a great time for baking and this extract from Quick Cakes for Busy Mums by Karen Taylor, £14.99 (B. Dutton Publishing) offers you a couple of colourful recipes.

Easter Egg Biscuits

Ingredients
200g (7oz) unsalted butter
200g (7oz) caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten
400g (14oz) plain flour
Apricot jam, boiled and cooled

Edibles
SK Sugar Dough: 200g (7oz) Pink, 200g (7oz) Yellow
200g (7oz) SK Sugarpaste: Bridal White coloured with Dark Green and a touch of Yellow paste food colours
SK Quality Food Colour (QFC) Pastes: Dark Green and Yellow
SK Quality Food Colour (QFC) Dusts: Orange and Yellow
SK Professional Dust Food Colour: Rose
80g (2¾oz) SK Instant Mix Royal Icing

Equipment
2 x large baking trays
Easter egg (or oval) cookie cutter
Round cutters: 6mm (¼”), 9mm (3/8”), 1.2cm (½”), 1.5cm (5/8”)
Piping nozzles: 2 x nos. 1.5

Makes 24

1. Place the butter, sugar and vanilla extract into an electric mixer and cream them together until well-combined and creamy. Avoid over-mixing as this will cause the biscuits to spread as they are baking.

2. Add the egg until well combined, then turn the mixer down to the lowest setting and add a little of the flour. Gradually add all the flour and mix until a dough is formed.

3. Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/gas mark 5.
4. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 5mm (¼”) thick. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper, place the biscuit dough onto the tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Cut out 24 egg shapes using the egg- or oval-shaped cookie cutter.

6. Place the cookies on two baking trays lined with parchment so they are not touching then bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes. The biscuits should be slightly brown around the edges when baked. Leave to cool.

7. Brush the biscuits with cooled, boiled apricot glaze. Roll out the green-coloured sugarpaste to 3mm (1/8”) thick and cut out eight egg shapes from the paste. Lay a piece of sugarpaste onto each cookie and smooth down with your hands. Repeat this method with Pink and Yellow Sugar Dough to make eight pink and eight yellow egg cookies.

8. Roll out a small amount of the remaining green sugarpaste thinly and cut out a circle using each of the different-sized round cutters. Attach the green circles randomly over the pink eggs using edible glue.

9. Make up the royal icing according to the packet instructions and divide it into two bowls. Colour one half with Rose dust food colour and the other half with Yellow and a spot of Orange dust food colours.

10. Fit a small piping bag with a no. 1.5 nozzle and fill 2/3 with pink royal icing. Starting from the left and piping one line at a time, pipe a crisscross pattern over the yellow cookies. Pipe loops across the middle of each of the green cookies in pink royal icing.

11. Fit another small piping bag with a no. 1.5 nozzle and fill 2/3 with yellow royal icing. Pipe zigzag lines above and below the pink line on the green cookies.

You can get all your cake decorating supplies from Squires Kitchen at www.squires-shop.com or pop in store at 3 Waverley Lane, Farnham.

Baking at Easter – ‘Hoppy Easter’ Cupcakes

Easter is always a great time for baking and this extract from Quick Cakes for Busy Mums by Karen Taylor, £14.99 (B. Dutton Publishing) offers you a couple of colourful recipes.

‘Hoppy Easter’ Cupcakes

Ingredients
175g (6oz) butter (or margarine)
175g (6oz) caster sugar
3 medium eggs
175g (6oz) self-raising flour
1tsp vanilla extract
Apricot jam, boiled and cooled

Edibles
SK Sugarpaste: 72g (2½oz) Bridal White, 220g (7¾oz) Bridal White coloured with Dark Green and a touch of Yellow paste food colours
20g (¾oz) SK Pink Sugar Dough
1 pack SK Sugar Florist Paste (SFP): Pale Yellow with a touch of Orange paste food colour
SK Quality Food Colour (QFC) Pastes: Dark Green, Orange and Yellow
SK Edible Glue
Small amount of SK Instant Mix Royal Icing

Equipment
12 x SK Dotty Cupcake Cases in Pink, Spring Green and Yellow
12-hole muffin tin
6cm (2 3/8”) round cutter
Small blossom cutter
Piping nozzle: no. 1

Makes 12

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4.

2. Cream the butter (or margarine) and sugar together in an electric mixer.

3. Slowly add the eggs, then the flour and vanilla and mix until fully combined. Make sure you scrape the bowl with a spatula between mixing.

4. Place the cupcake cases in a muffin tin and spoon approximately 50ml (1¾fl oz) of mixture into each one. Bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes.

5. Once the cakes are baked and spring back to the touch, take them out of the tin immediately. Leave to cool before decorating.

6. Brush the top of each cupcake with a little cooled, boiled apricot glaze. Roll out the yellow-green sugarpaste to a 3mm (1/8”) thickness and cut out twelve 6cm (2 3/8”) circles of paste. Place these onto the cupcakes and smooth them down with the palm of your hand.

7. Shape 4g (just under ¼oz) of Bridal White sugarpaste into a long teardrop shape for the bunny’s ear. Flatten it slightly with the palm of your hand and taper the top of the ear into a point. Roll out a small amount of Pink Sugar Dough and cut out an inner ear shape. Attach it in the centre of the ear with edible glue.

8. Make another ear in the same way but fold it over in the middle. Trim the bottom of each ear straight and use edible glue to attach them to the cupcake. Repeat to make 11 pairs of ears for the remaining cupcakes.

9. Roll out the yellow SFP thinly and cut out 36 little blossoms. Pipe a small dot of royal icing into the centre of each flower using a no. 1 nozzle. Stick one to the straight ear with edible glue. Secure the remaining blossoms over the top of the cupcakes.

You can get all your cake decorating supplies from Squires Kitchen at www.squires-shop.com or pop in store at 3 Waverley Lane, Farnham.

Weekend Walk: Reigate Heath to Ironsbottom (8.25 miles)

This walk takes you through woods and fields to Ironsbottom and the Three Horseshoes. The walk was submitted by Guildford Rambling Club (see guildfordramblingclub.org.uk).

1. From the car park on the right-hand side of the road (walking away from the A25), walk further along Flanchford Road, taking a path just off the road and parallel to it. When you reach a point where you can see a windmill up on the hill to your right, take the path up to it and emerge in a golf club car park. Turn left and walk a few yards to find a footpath branching off right and down a slope to cross a fairway. Head towards a lone house and take the track running away from the golf course and along its left-hand side. At a junction by a stream (the Mole) turn left. Reach Dungates Farmhouse and turn left down a path at its far side.

2. Follow this path down through fields to reach a mill pond and Wonham Manor (a converted mill) and a road. Go left for a few yards to take a footpath out right. Follow this through a field, passing pill boxes on the right and on the left. In the next field stay on the left-hand side, ignoring a gap on the left by a power line pole. Beyond it, reach a gate/stile on the left and go through onto a track. Turn right. Ignore a footpath left which goes up a few steps. Instead, stay on the wide track to reach and cross the Rice Bridge footbridge. At a 3-way signpost on the other side, take the left-most option, staying close to the trees. Follow this as it strikes out across a field.

3. On the other side go through a gap and over a stile and another footbridge. Head out to pass the right-hand side of a lone oak and continue forward to reach a kissing gate in a hedge. Go half-left over the next field (see a small barn over to your left) and take a stile, right, into the next field. Walk along the right-hand edge of this and the next field. Emerge on a wide track leading to a road, emerging next to Hillview Farmhouse. Go straight across the road and cross a field. On the far side go over a stile and a plank footbridge then turn right to walk along the edge of the next field. Go through a gap and then head out half-left to the far corner of a large field to reach a kissing gate onto a road. Turn left and walk a few yards to the church, the green and the Plough pub in Leigh and to a phone box displaying a history of the village.

4. Take a footpath left, into the churchyard and past the church. Go out of the back along a corridor which emerges in a field. Cross this field slightly right to reach and cross a footbridge in trees. Continue forward to emerge in a large field. Turn right and walk along the edge until reaching a stile on the right which takes you into another field. Turn left and walk to and through a gate then continue forward along a field edge (ignoring a stile that can be seen off to the right). Reach a gate through into a fence/hedge corridor. This widens into a grassy corridor between trees. At a T junction with a wide track turn right. Quickly reach an amazing old oak (see later) and, immediately beyond it, take a track forking left. Follow this out into a field and then turn right to walk towards the right-hand side of a large barn. Pass the barn and turn right to follow the access track which swings left to reach a tarmac drive. Turn left. Walk down to pass a 3-way signpost and, immediately beyond it, a bridge (Dabdon Bridge). About 25 yards beyond the bridge, take a path out right. This crosses a field and emerges on a road by the Three Horseshoes pub in Ironsbottom. You could picnic in the field.

5. After lunch, walk back across the field and over the bridge to reach the 3-way signpost that you passed earlier. Here, turn left to cross a small field. Go through a gap and half-right across the next field. Go over a double stile into the corner of another field and walk along its left-hand edge. Exit over a stile and follow the path to emerge on a drive at a 3-way signpost. Follow a bridleway sign along the drive to the right. The drive becomes a wide track then narrows. Keep going forward. Reach a T-junction with a concrete track and turn left. The concrete gives way to dirt and you quickly reach and pass once more the amazing old oak. Continue forward. The track becomes concrete again. Pass a stile/gate and then pass a high wall and some of Burys Court School’s accommodation buildings.

6. Just past the latter is a 5-bar metal gate on the right and, immediately beyond it, a stile right, into a field. In this field, head left, paralleling the river which is on the right-hand side. Go through a gap and then swing right a little to continue forward along the bottom of a grassy bank. Near the end of the bank, climb up left to reach a stile onto a road, opposite a house. In the road, turn right and walk to cross Flanchford Bridge. At the far side of the bridge turn right onto a track. Quickly reach a signpost forking left into a field. Cross this field a quarter right and go through a gap onto a wide track. Quickly go straight over two cross tracks and continue along the left-hand side of a field. Ignore a gap on the left and stay at the left-hand side of this field to reach and pass a house and emerge on a road. Turn left.

7. Walk about 300 yards along here until you can turn right, into Clayhall Lane. Again walk about 300 yards to take a footpath, through a kissing gate, left. Head out a quarter right across a field, through a gap and on across the next field. Exit through a kissing gate onto a cross track at a 4 way signpost. Here, turn left and walk down slope to reach a T-junction with a concrete track. Turn left. The track becomes broken tarmac and dirt. Reach a T-junction and turn right to walk along a wide track (ignoring an immediate yellow arrow left). Follow the track up and over a rise and down to pass the Skimmington pub. Pass a 3 way signpost and continue on, ignoring a road right, to a junction at the corner of a section of a golf course. Take the track right, passing the course and quickly reaching a bridleway forking left and into trees. Follow this to the start.

DISTANCE: 8.25 miles

OS MAPS: Explorer 146 Dorking, Box Hill & Reigate

STARTING POINT: Pass Buckland on the A25 on the way to Reigate and, just before the Black Horse pub which is on the A25 at RH2 9JZ, turn right down Flanchford Road, alongside Reigate Heath. There are car parking areas on both sides of Flanchford Road a couple of hundred yards past the houses.

REFRESHMENTS:
The Plough, Leigh
The Three Horseshoes, Ironsbottom

A plant for your palm

Bonsai is the art of growing dwarf trees and shrubs from seedlings or rooted cuttings. It requires careful training, pruning and container restriction. The latter gives bonsai its name as it translates as ‘tray cultivation’. This is a fun and beautiful way of cultivating plants on a miniature scale. Shohin is a Japanese small bonsai that is between 6 – 8 inches.

Bonsai began in China, though most believe that Japan has this honour and indeed, many of the leading masters are Japanese. The art of miniaturising trees in China is known as penjing, or pensai. This style of gardening has a rich history, and there are styles within the style of Bonsai.

The watering regime, pruning and pinching out mean that these plants are certainly not easy maintenance but the rewards are great. There are many ways of beginning a bonsai collection. Perhaps the easiest for a beginner is to buy a plant from a reputable nursery or specialist bonsai centre. However before you do so, it is well worth finding out more about bonsai.

Start your own Bonsai collection
Most trees and shrubs can be grown as outdoor bonsai. The act of restricting growth causes the leaves to become reduced in size. The pruning techniques for Bonsai are specific to the individual species of tree. Naturally small-leaved plants such as azaleas lend themselves most readily to bonsai, but bear in mind that their leaves will become smaller still. Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris), larch (Larix sp.), Cercis sp, maidenhair tree (Ginkgo sp.), Lonicera nitida, yew (Taxus baccata) and Japanese maple (Acer sp.) are all good for starting your collection off.

Trees for your home
Indoor bonsai are rather like houseplants. They are usually tropical or semi-tropical species and require lots of light, constant temperature and humidity, along with regular watering (as for outdoor bonsai). Depending on the species, some will lose a few old leaves in the spring to make way for some new ones; others will lose leaves in autumn/winter. Plants regularly used are Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia), silver jade plant (Crassula arborescens), weeping fig (Ficus benjamina), celtis (Celtis bungeana) and olive (Olea europaea).

In the clouds ‘Niwaki’
Cloud pruning is a Japanese method of training trees and shrubs into shapes resembling clouds. It is known as ‘Niwaki’, the translation of which is ‘garden tree’. The style is said to depict the distilled essence of the tree. This type of pruning does not have to be used in solely Japanese-style gardens; it can be used as a feature in gardens of many different styles.

Crafting your own clouds
You can start off with any size plant. However, there are a couple of things to consider:

Cost: small plants will generally cost less and allow for more artistic licensing. Larger plants will be more expensive yet save many years of waiting for the plant to get to the desired height.

Rate of growth: slow-growing species will take longer to reach a mature size so it might be worth buying a larger specimen or choosing another variety if time is a problem.

Plants that are cloud pruned can look very much like bonsai trees. The only difference between niwaki and bonsai is that bonsai are grown in containers and niwaki are grown in the ground. The size of the plant has nothing to do with the naming, it is purely from how it is grown. Both subjects are highly prized art forms with Japanese gardeners taking years to be qualified in this specialised area.