Land and Ecology

Mucknell Abbey has 40 acres situated in the Vale of Evesham. The land is open, the skies are big, and the weather demands to be noticed! The Malvern Hills can be seen to the west, Bredon Hill to the south, and Worcester is nearby to the northwest. The site is located in a triangle of major road and rail links, which gives us the opportunity to seek to be a still place at the centre of a busy world.

The Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is to the west, the Cotswolds AONB to the south, there are several Local Nature Reserves in Worcester and Sites of Special Scientific Interest nearby, but the land itself has no special ecological significance. The surrounding land-use is mostly mixed farming. Mucknell itself was a working farm and potato chipping business until 2004. Recent aerial photos show the farm buildings set in bare earth, and grassy scrub. It looks like a desert, and the land was described in the wildlife survey undertaken as part of the planning process as having very low biodiversity. We have had almost a blank sheet of paper to start from as we try to develop more diverse plant life and improve animal habitat.

There is a brook which defines the north boundary, and a stream, a tributary of the Avon, 10m beyond the south boundary. There is also a pond to the south east of the monastery buildings, and a borehole to the east. There are some trees along the north and east boundaries, but otherwise there was just one tree on the entire site. One of the first tasks, while the new monastery was being built, was to plant more than 5,000 trees on the north side, including oak, hazel, and ash. This is part of a scheme to re-establish the Forest of Feckenham. Another 3,000 trees, including a hazel/sweet chestnut coppice, have been planted to the south; and an orchard including some rare local varieties of apples and pears.