One of the actions in the Darent Valley Landscape Partnership plan for the Archbishops’ Palace, is a botanical survey of Palace Field. This, together with the archaeological survey, will enable us to understand the field before any conservation work on the buildings is started.
To this end, Nick Rushby attended a course run by Old Chalk New Downs on the ‘chalk grassland survey techniques.’ Of course, Palace Field is not a chalk grassland, but the techniques were felt to be applicable to other terrains. In practice, the course was helpful in giving a basic grounding in what will be required for our survey, and in starting to build a network of experts who may be able to help us with this aspect of the project.
The image shows some of the course participants identifying flowers, herbs and grasses at Trosley Country Park (not far from Otford) on 15th May 2019.