The Early Days

Harvesting the corn in the early days

One of the first priorities was to set up a Constitution for the Land and to open up its administration to a group of Trustees, who would be responsible for the day-to-day running of the Land and the long-term strategy.

Any woman can become a Trustee (providing she undertakes to attend a certain number of meetings and to actively work on and/or for the Land), and there are at present about half a dozen such Trustees.

On the Land itself, early work included maintaining the Cornish hedges, brambling and the removal of thistles and dock from the hay, which in the first year provided a good money-raising crop. Independent access to the Land had to be created by opening up the Cornish hedge and providing a gate. Water had to be provided on the Land: fortunately there was a pipe running underground, and some deft dowsing revealed its location, and saved the Trust a lot of money.

An application to the Cornwall Tree Planting Scheme produced an offer of nearly 1,000 baby trees to provide a rich variety of woodland and a shelter for the Land. They were planted in Spring 1998 thanks to a lot of help from many women who gave their time to successfully put all the trees in.