![]() ![]() This same urge is driving attempts to broaden and democratise access to the countryside, with groups such as Wild in the City, Black Girls Hike and Fences and Frontiers creating positive experiences for people who may not have grown up feeling that rural areas were for them – something the Black explorer and naturalist Dwayne Fields spoke powerfully about on Countryfile in the summer. Today, we are subject to different ideas, and control is giving way to custodianship. My parents’ generation gardened tidily and ruthlessly because they were subject to cultural forces different from those that operate on us – not least the fact they had grown up surrounded by rubble and bombsites, and believed in the eternal renewability of nature. It’s a far cry from the tidy borders, sprinkled with slug pellets and sprayed with biocides, that were good practice 30 or 40 years ago. Across the country, verges and mini meadows are being left unmown, with ponds dug, log piles created and plants chosen for their value to insects. ![]() To take one example, this need for connection is evident in the growing popularity of wildlife gardening. ![]() It goes far deeper than the desire many of us have felt while in lockdown for green and growing things. ![]()
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