The Friends group was formed in 2008 with the objective of promoting the park to the community and helping the City Council Parks Department with conservation and the provision of amenity within the park.
As a country park, Castle Hill is enjoyed by many people who want to ‘get away from it all’ and has been left, as much as possible, the way nature has intended. The group is keen to preserve the less formal nature of the area.
The group was started with only 15 members, but in a year this figure has grown to over 50 and we are, of course, always looking for new members. Our current membership includes a small working group that meets at the park on Thursdays to repair fences, build bridges over the various ancient ditches, make steps in the steep of slippery banks and generally maintain the park’s accessibility for users. The group has helped to plant over 500 trees in the last year, as part of Leicester’s 10,000 tree project, including the foundation of a brand new nut orchard.
Other projects include the building of owl boxes to encourage barn owls to the area and the ongoing attempts to restore one of the sites scheduled monuments to its former glory. The Medieval Fish Pond at the bottom of the Knights Hospitallers’ site only has any water after prolonged rainfall, the group has been working with the water company, the City Architect and English Heritage to try to find a way to make the area watertight without invasive work on the scheduled monument, so far with no luck, but also no reduction in enthusiasm.
The group has also responded to requests from the community by building and placing six benches at various vantage points in the park.
If you would be interested in joining the Friends of Castle Hill Country Park, or want to know more about the group, then please contact Troy Lavers 0116 2108818 or Dave Vale 07771 742477 or email: fochp@aol.com.
