Henry Bexley; Countryside Manager, National Trust
A New Year and we have some exciting new contributors for our professionals’ blog series; Not least this month’s guest Henry Bexley, Countryside Manager at Essex and South Suffolk National Trust.
What’s striking about Henry is both the simple beauty and insight with which he describes his interaction with the natural world. He talks of his childhood as being “out on my bike with schoolmates or on dog walks in the woods, out on the heathland, beside a river or the sea” He mentions “the obviously lasting effect that being absorbed in natural beauty from a young age has had”. And the following blog could not demonstrate more truth in that.
Henry’s path began by volunteering for the National Trust near his home in Devon and his career then took him on a journey through gardening, tree surgery, civil engineering and building work before perhaps inevitably back to the National Trust becoming a Warden in 1999. Home at last, he was subsequently promoted to Head Warden and then Countryside Manager where he now manages a team of six full time rangers and over 150 dedicated volunteers.
Henry has overall responsibility for eleven countryside sites of which the largest and busiest is a place close to our hearts here at Studio 31; Hatfield Forest. But the sites he manages don’t only consist of ancient woodland, they span everything from coastal and farmland sites to a Norman Motte and even a Bailey Castle at Rayleigh. This means that the work is hugely varied too “from coppice and scrub management to fencing, deer management, salt marsh restoration and footpath and signage maintenance.” Henry’s work can also be largely office-based these days; managing teams, planning the projects and gathering the consents and all important funding to achieve them.
“Fundraising for our projects is always a challenge and we have to be far-sighted and often patient but we have a great team which help us meet the challenges we face”
It’s clear to see that along with the challenges though, Henry’s role also has its rewards;
“The times when a plan comes together following a lot of hard team work and when we start taking on rare species as a result of our conservation work. [They] are the things I enjoy the most”
More broadly, he talks of the challenges nature is facing and the importance of the solutions coming from both the valuable work of conservation charities like the National Trust but also from each and every one of us.
“Nature is going through a really tough time at the moment, due to climate change, development of rural spaces, and habitat destruction. However, it is not a lost cause in my view. It does bounce back quite remarkably and our habitat restoration work has proven that time and again. To do this on our best wildlife sites is vitally important, but the effect would be so much greater if it can be achieved at a truly landscape scale, making the most of any available green space with everyone doing their bit and getting involved.”
The National Trust looks after over 200 gardens and 180 parks; the largest portfolio of historic gardens and parks in Europe and contains the largest collection of historically and botanically significant plants. 93 gardens and parks are registered Grade I and II, 30 contain SSSIs or ASSIs, two are National Nature Reserves and the national trust looks after places in seven of the UKs World Heritage Sites. National Trust parks and gardens also host the works of many of the major garden designers in history including William Kent, Capability Brown, Gertrude Jekyll and Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (National Trust, 2018). We therefore asked Henry how he views the connection between his work and something like Landscape Architecture or Garden Design…
“All of our Essex sites have been designed in one way or another, whether for the growing and harvesting of trees, the husbandry of deer, the grazing of livestock, the growing of crops, clearing a vantage point to see enemy invaders or purely for the enjoyment of our predecessors as formal landscaped grounds (such as the Capability Brown designed lake area at Hatfield Forest). My job is partly to work out the most important layer of a site’s history to embellish; whether that’s by physically restoring it or portraying it in some way for people to easily understand how it once was. We are gathering so much accurate knowledge from expert landscape historians these days that never before have we had so much evidence to go on”
If ever you meet someone who is in exactly the right job role, Henry Bexley is it. His passion and dedication for the natural world and conservation is as evident as his optimism that together we all hold the key to the preservation of both our heritage sites and wildlife. So, in a slightly different manner to normal I will leave the final word to JFK (or rather Henry’s subtly humourous but seriously important adaptation of his words):
“Ask not what your country(side) can do for you – ask what you can do for your country(side)”
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