Green-fingered Chepstow schoolchildren help plant wildflower meadow in town

Children from primary schools in Chepstow had a blooming good day out helping staff from Monmouthshire County Council to plant wildflowers in areas of grassland.

Thornwell Primary and St Mary’s RC Primary pupils were working hard on grassland around the play area on Woolpitch Wood in the Bayfield area of Chepstow.

The work is part of the Welsh Government Funded Community Nature Spaces programme, which seeks to improve green spaces for nature and help support opportunities for health and wellbeing.  

The wildflower planting is focused on grassland being managed under the flagship Nature Isn’t Neat mowing regime, which is creating meadow areas throughout the county to create attractive and vibrant habitats for pollinators and to combat climate change.

The Community Nature Spaces programme has already supported projects in locations around Monmouth, with other projects in Chepstow currently under way and more planned in Abergavenny in the new year.

Residents have had the chance to get involved through consultation on the designs and Monmouthshire County Council is keen to involve schools in helping plant trees and wildflowers.

Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Environment, Cllr Catrin Maby, said: “It’s good to see so many of the younger generation getting involved with nature schemes like this. I am looking forward to seeing what the wildflower meadow in Bayfield looks like when it starts to mature. Well done to all the schoolchildren who took part.”