We have learnt to create totally sustainable roads on Lower Pertwood Farm. A road is not a good addition to the landscape. It creates drainage and run off problems, it prevents coverage of vegetation with all the subsequent repercussions of that. We have designed a road system at Lower Pertwood Farm which we believe to be one of the most sustainable solutions that we have ever come across. We are chalk landscape so we start with a chalk base, we put a thin layer of Type One crushed stone on it, we then apply woodchips to that to help it bond with the organic matter, we then spread dairy muck on top of it and then we walk away and leave it to nature. The result is what you see in the picture above. Nothing was planted in the middle. That is entirely self-seeded including the white clover, the grass and the other plants.
This road will withstand any amount of traffic as well as any amount of rainfall because the rain is rapidly absorbed into the centre or into the edges. What is remarkable is this clover is growing on a base of chalk and crushed stone with the appropriate organic layer above it. It clearly demonstrates the synergy between the application between some organic material and the ability of nature to exploit that space.
