A meadow in the Fordingbridge area has been secured for nature conservation after being given to the New Forest National Park Authority.

The half-acre meadow in Godshill borders the open forest and features oak and ash trees, hazel hedges, scrub and a small brook.

Three siblings, who wish to remain anonymous, bequeathed the meadow to the New Forest National Park Authority (NPA) through the New Forest Land Advice Service this year.

The siblings’ grandparents were New Forest commoners and the meadow had been in their family since the early 20th Century as part of a small holding. It was originally an apple orchard with bee hives, was also once used to grow food, and has been grassland for the last 20 years.

The donors no longer live in the New Forest but have fond memories of the meadow and recall harvesting crops, picking blackberries, collecting honey from the hives for mead and their grandfather making parsnip wine.

The family told the NPA, “It is only in later life do we, who experienced life in this corner of the New Forest with our grandparents, uncle and parents, now appreciate what a unique privilege it was to be part of this culture for a brief period in our lives.”

The Land Advice Service (NFLAS), an independent service for the land managing community in and around the New Forest, will now look after the meadow. Its plans include hedge laying and coppicing to create thick wild hedgerows and increasing the number of wildflowers.

Julie Melin-Stubbs, NPA wildlife and conservation manager and manager of NFLAS, said, ‘We are proud and excited to become the guardians of this little piece of the New Forest. Our plan is to manage it in a way which will enhance its value for nature, particularly hedgerow birds, wildflowers, butterflies and other insects such as dragonflies, bees, crickets and grasshoppers.”

The land will be used as a venue to teach countryside skills and land management, as well as to support commoners’ livestock; this autumn a young commoner has taken two donkeys off the Forest to graze the meadow.

New Forest volunteers will also visit the meadow to help with and learn about scything, hedge restoration and scrub management.