Last modified on Thu 28 Jan 2021 10.05 EST
On a perfect summer day, the bees drone and a million flowers dance as a dozen people move across the meadow, cutting hay with a rhythmic swish of scythes. As children play, the haymakers pause for refreshments of cake and cider.
This would resemble a scene from a long-lost rural idyll if the scythes were not Austrian carbon-steel and the children were not identifying flowers on smartphones. After a century in which more than 97% of Britain’s wildflower-rich meadows were destroyed, meadowland is making a comeback.
The miraculous properties of meadows – and even, improbably, cutting them with scythes – are being cherished again. The charity Plantlife has led the creation of 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) of wildflower-rich meadows since 2013 – including 90 meadows to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation, in a campaign initiated by Prince Charles. Scores of grassroots meadow groups have also sprung up, inspired by ev