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bugs

Environment

Where Have All the Windscreen Bugs Gone?

Have you taken a drive through the countryside on a warm summer evening recently and noticed something strange about your car windscreen?

For those of us born in the 60’s and 70’s, summer drives in our younger years meant one inevitable chore: cleaning a windscreen plastered with countless splattered insects. Back then, a long drive in July or August guaranteed a front bumper and windscreen thick with tiny bugs. Today, you can drive hundreds of miles across the UK and arrive home with a glass windscreen that is almost entirely spotless.

It might feel like a convenience, but in truth, it is a alarming symptom of a ecological crisis unfolding right in front of our eyes.

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Environment, Sustainable Travel

It’s All About the Bees – The Iconic Chewton Glen Hotel (Part 1)

Inspiring the Next Generation

Chewton Glen is a glorious and luxurious place to stay, set in 135 acres of beautiful rolling grounds.

Would it surprise you that what excited me most was a tour around their waste management area by their very informed Deputy General Manager, Raymond de Toulouse Lautrec? Probably not by now…. just to prepare you for my ‘bin’ conversation!

But what’s this about the bees? My Dad was an avid gardener and I have fond memories of helping him tend our good sized garden of vegetables and flowers as a little girl. Everything was grown from seed, kept from the previous year. Plant cuttings and vegetable gluts were shared with neighbours as were gardening tips on what to grow with what to keep the bugs in check. Everything that could be was composted. He taught me all I know and his presence is always with me when I garden – not surprising, so many of my plants are from him!

My conversation with the Estate Manager, Darren Venables stirred those memories and really got me thinking about all that Darren told me he was trying achieve….

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