A new milestone for Harrogate and Knaresborough’s first-ever community woodland project
The team behind Harrogate and Knaresborough’s first-ever community woodland project are to celebrate its fifth anniversary this weekend with a summer fair.
Members of Long Lands Common, which has taken two large tracts of land close to Nidd Gorge between Bilton and Knaresborough into community ownership in recent years, promise this Saturday’s event will:
Offer a fun-packed summer fair for all the family.
Be a vibrant and laid back community-powered day out.
Long Lands Common was established in 2021 after a successful £2500,00 community campaign to purchase 30 acres of open farmland near Bilton, surrounded by fields and hedgerows.
In 2024, Long Lands Common Community Benefit Society acquired a further 60 acres of green belt land between Harrogate and Knaresborough, a site now known as Knaresborough Forest Park.
A long-term project whose results will take decades to fully bloom, volunteers have been taking emergency action in recent weeks during Yorkshire’s drought to protect nearly 2,000 trees on the site.
The Long Lands Common Community Summer Fair will mark the fifth year of community land ownership and celebrate the recent securing and long-term protection of Knaresborough Forest Park.
There will be music, arts and crafts for adults and children, including bush crafts, green-wood-working and clay sculpture, a citizen science bio-blitz, a site rangers exhibition, a tea and cake stall and guided tours of Long Lands Common and Knaresborough Forest Park
Taking place on the newly-built henge on Long Lands Common, the day will also include the AGM.
Timetable for the Day
11am: Gates Open - registration and certificate collection.
Noon: AGM Start.
12.30pm: AGM Finish.
12.30pm to 4pm: Music, Arts and Crafts, Bug Hunt, Site Walks, Displays and Stalls
4pm: Event Closes.
To give the Long Lands Common team an idea of likely numbers at the AGM, please register your intent to attend here: https://www.longlandscommon.org/event-details/long-lands-community-summer-fair
AGM Details
In accordance with Long Lands Common rules, it will also be re-electing one-third of our existing Directors to the Board and any members who wish to join the Board.
If you are interested in serving as a Long Lands Common Board member, email [email protected]