Community-led meadow creation in W Oxon

Continuous
fundraising

Coming together as a whole community (including schoolchildren, vulnerable adults, farmers and pensioners) to save the UK’s rarest floodplain meadow habitat by creating new meadows in between them

£34,126 Raised of £34,124

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This project has reached its fundraising target. It has also activated Continuous Fundraising, which means you can still donate and support the project.

Costs

Manure spreader for spreading wildflower seed and flail collector for autumn cut of new meadows £12,648
Greenhouse inc. vat and delivery £12,295
Groundworks for Greenhouse £4,200
Free use of premises for community plant propagation £1,600
Free electricity £700
Target: (inc. fees) £34,123

http://www.longmeadwildlifesite.org.uk/ and https://nature-recovery-network.org/

Long Mead Foundation supports the work of the Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project (TVWMRP) and the work of Nature Recovery Network (NRN), an Oxfordshire Community Action Group. Its aim is to support bottom-up nature recovery in urban villages in W Oxfordshire, and at the landscape-scale in the wider countryside. Since 2018, we have adopted an innovative model both to landscape-scale restoration and to community engagement.

The conventional top-down model of creating nature recovery networks starts with maps and then seeks out people on the ground to realise them. Historically, the strategy has had limited success. In 2018, we started with the people on the ground, with our long-term social and professional relationships: in the community, with farmers, local experts and our local councillors. Five years on, we have connected 250 hectares of restored and ancient floodplain meadow. We have also: created 6 community meadows in Eynsham, supported the creation of meadows in other villages, planted over 2.3km of hedge, organised art projects and schools projects - all using our innovative local network model with the community integral to the process. Our mailing list is now over 800 people.

With the acquisition of 70 acres for community use, we have become the first community driven landscape-scale restoration project.

We have won several awards for our work, including the 2025 Oxford Climate Award for Biodiversity.

Furthermore, we are in demand as mentors to other communities. In 2025, with funding from Sustainable Charlbury, we ran a 6 month meadow creation course for several communities, which has enabled them to replicate our inclusive community nature recovery model this year.

Central to our environmental projects are our social-farming participants. In this field, we have adopted an innovative model, bringing an isolated sector of society into the community, to work alongside local people. Our weekly plant propagation sessions include adults with learning disabilities and autism, people with physical and mental health challenges, students from Oxford Brookes University and people learning environmental skills for professional purposes. Not only do the social-farming participants make new social relationships in the community but, working alongside other volunteers as equals doing the same job and learning the same skills, they build confidence and self-esteem. Bridewell and FarmAbility are long-term partners.

Project Owner: Long Mead Foundation and Nature Recovery Network The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.