Come along and tell us about the spaces you love in Chiddingly Parish

Greening Chiddingly invites everyone – young and old, from Golden Cross to Stonehill and Whitesmith to Gun Hill – to come along to this free one-day family event and help us build a community map of your 'Special Spaces' in Chiddingly Parish. The event takes place from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 28 February in Chiddingly Village Hall. You can pop in at any time and stay for as long as you like.
 
With development encroaching on the parish from all sides, the aim of the event is to come together as a community to celebrate, record, map and protect the places that we love in the area that we live. This builds on the parish’s strong connection with its natural landscape and our shared commitment to caring for our local environment. Support for the event has been provided by the Lund Trust through the High Weald Nature and Community Fund.

What do we mean by 'Special Spaces?

Your ‘special spaces’ could be anywhere in Chiddingly Parish with special meaning to you – but we particularly want to hear about those places where you go to connect with the natural environment or that support wildlife, biodiversity or low-carbon living.

Your special space might be an especially gnarly old oak tree, a particularly beautiful area of woodland, your favourite spot while you are out dog-walking or horse-riding, an amazing viewpoint on the Weald Way, a field where the birdsong is wonderful, the wildflower patch in your back garden – or simply a place that holds special memories for you or your family.

It doesn’t have to be a natural space – it might be an eco-business that promotes renewable energy, a barn covered in solar panels, or an outbuilding where bats or owls roost. You can tell us about one special space or several – big or small, it doesn’t matter. Get your thinking caps on...

What should I expect on the day?

When you arrive at the Village Hall, expect to see several giant maps of the parish where you can mark on your special spaces using specially designed stickers. There will be large-format postcards on which you can describe each space and explain in your own words why it is special to you.

For younger and/or more creative community members, we will have artists and arts materials on hand to help you sketch, paint, model or digitally recreate your special spaces. You could even bring along paintings, photographs or other artworks of your own. Whatever the creative output, we can add it to the map. We will also have wildlife experts with us for the day to help you understand the species that might be present in your special spaces.

Throughout the day there will be a rolling programme of short talks and interactive sessions where you can hear the results of our latest surveys of breeding birds and of the vertebrate and invertebrate species living in our rivers and streams. There'll be presentations about habitat change in Chiddingly since the 1870s based on historic Ordnance Survey maps. You will also get to hear interviews with some of our parish 'Elders' talking about how the natural environment of Chiddingly has changed over the course of their lifetimes. 

Most importantly, there will be hot drinks and refreshments available all day – well, this is a community event, after all!

What will happen after the event

After the event, we will scan each postcard, transcribe each description and add each special space – with an image of any creative outputs – to a specially created digital map. This will provide a permanent record of the places we value. Think of it as our digital Domesday Book (but without the underlying tax-raising connotations). We will unveil the completed map at a launch event during summer 2026, followed by a community walk. We will also create printed maps showing suggested walking routes through some of your special spaces, available to community members and visitors alike.

What if I don't want my 'Special Spaces' shown on the digital map?

That's absolutely fine. Every aspect of the event will be GDPR compliant and mindful of privacy and land access/ownership issues. When you fill out a postcard about a special space you will be given a range of options about how you want your information to be used. If you don't want the precise location of your special space made public, just tell us. If you don't want your name displayed alongside the description of your special space, let us know. There will also be options to tell us if your special space is on public or private land or is accessible via a public footpath or bridleway.

If you have any questions or concerns ahead of the event, drop an email to [email protected].