Derbyshire council leader branches out with ‘rainforest’ project to nurture his vineyard and the environment

One particular green-minded champion is already making a difference with pioneering plans to create, develop and nurture something as close as possible to a ‘pocket rainforest’ across an acre of his land, near Wessington, in the Peak District, by encouraging and introducing all the necessary combined conditions, vegetation, lichens and fungi and wildlife to support a healthy and thriving damp environment.

Derbyshire County Council Leader, Barry Lewis, is transforming the wet woodland forest including a rich marsh and meadow on land adjacent to his Amber Valley Vineyard into what he hopes will become something like a rather rare and wild temperate, rainforest the likes of which many of us would only consider possible when we consider the tropical rain forests associated with Central and South America, Africa and south-east Asia.

But as Climate Change has been brought more sharply into focus in recent years with wetter, warmer weather and floods in the UK, the importance of developing temperate rain forests in sheltered and damp areas is becoming even more vital in the UK to both support the environment and to help neighbouring crop development.

And Barry Lewis is following in the footsteps of those who already proudly nurture and treasure such thriving and healthy ecosystems which can be found in parts of America, New Zealand and Japan.

Mr Lewis said: “There has been a recent recognition that we do have the conditions for cool temperate rainforests and it is a relatively new thing to develop this environment.

“We always knew we had these environments in Britain, like in New Zealand and Tasmania and so on, and now there are efforts being made to protect and expand some of these environments.”

Generous planting of alder, willow rowans, and birch trees and new hawthorns is underway at the Wessington-based ‘pocket rainforest’, off Doe Hole Lane, which is considered to be acceptable because the undulating, damp land will be designated for a ‘rainforest’ rather than just standard woodland alongside other efforts to establish new ferns including hart’s tongue which has been planted and is doing well.

Such nurturing vegetation is regarded as being epiphytic which means it grows on other plant life and trees but does not harm them and it also grows well on and around fallen willow trees which also encourage the growth of holly.

Mr Lewis said: “We will get something close to a cool temperate rainforest. We want to achieve that but it will be close and we will have to contribute a little while gaining some benefits from doing it ourselves.”

Wild flowers and plants already abound including cowslips, herbs, yellow rattle and the occasional orchid with a thick bed of bluebells across an adjoining meadow.

Amber Valley Vineyards boasts two patches of vines off Back Lane on land that is a designated wildlife site with nutrient rich soil which creates greater biodiversity and more species.

However, the nearby woodland and boggy brook is no good for growing crops but by transforming this into a ‘pocket rainforest’ it will increase the area’s biodiversity and even encourage more predatory insects which will help to protect the adjacent vines from other harmful insects and tie in with the principles of regenerative agriculture.

Mr Lewis said: “It’s an area of land that is not any good for growing so if you can, why not use it for a project called a ‘pocket rainforest’?

“The whole thinking behind regenerative agriculture is to use eco-sources to benefit the agriculture.”

Britain’s core temperate rainforests can be found on land towards the Atlantic seaboard with oaks, rowan, birch and ash trees which support a lot of bird life including the yellowhammer.

Mr Lewis pointed out the difference between a deciduous woodland and a rainforest is the types of mosses and ferns that would not exist in any other woodland but they thrive in micro-climates like this area in Wessington which has plenty of water and streams.

He conceded: “What we are trying to create here will not be a cool temperate rain forest like you might find elsewhere but it will be a close analogy.”

Mr Lewis highlighted Padley Gorge, in the Peak District, with its heavy mosses as a similar environment to a ‘pocket rainforest’ which thrives due to its lack of grazing animals.

The conservation and preservation of this particular site near Wessington also aims to encourage better symbiotic relationships between farming and the land by supporting a corridor across Derbyshire similar to the county council’s Heartwood community forest project aimed at regenerating land and linking Bolsover, Chesterfield, north east Derbyshire, Amber Valley and Erewash.

Former landscape archaeologist, Mr Lewis, explained how his experience feeds into his work as a councillor with a wider perspective and respect for the natural environment and how landscapes work.

He said: “One of the things happening in the big wide world is the planting of more trees and more nature recovery and understanding why that is important. And there is an argument that we should grow trees and not crops but we can do both.

“We can get a benefit from planting trees and growing crops and growing trees can be beneficial to crop growing if it is done in the right way and a lot of farmers are starting to understand regenerative agriculture.

“We do not use pesticides and herbicides and we rely on the environment and our vines have never been healthier. We are farming nature as much as we are farming a crop for consumption.

“We are all aware of the need for food consumption. It is an uncertain world and we know we need to produce more, and can we produce more crops while working with the environment? And the answer to that is yes.”

Mr Lewis is no stranger to working with his neighbours after he teamed up with a nearby alpaca farmer who provides manure – which is high in potassium and phosphates – in exchange for bottles of wine which were used to help toast a recent marital celebration.

He added: “If we create a corridor which is what we are trying to do our neighbouring farm is also going to see an increase in biodiversity and if someone else wants to do that we can build a corridor through the landscape increasing the number of insects and plants because this supported work is what we want to achieve.”

To manage the ‘pocket rainforest’, Mr Lewis hopes to recruit volunteers including Derby University students to develop the site and beat back harmful brambles and Himalayan balsam and this experience will hopefully also arm others with both the skills, education and inspiration to keep developing and nurturing land elsewhere.

Mr Lewis said: “The other dimension is to inspire other people and we are working with Derby University about projects like regenerative agriculture and we want to involve students.”

Amber Valley Vineyards is so determined to ensure they use what is naturally available in the environment to support their crops they even create their own ‘biochar’ which works as a fertiliser for their soil by burning land material which is then put back into the ground.

Kate Rathod-Burton, who works for Amber Valley Vineyards, said: “I am excited about tying in this new project with the vineyards.

“It’s important for me to think of the long-term too because we all know we have a problem [with Climate Change] and It will be nice to meet new people and we will be urging more people to do similar things and to learn.”