Alison Organ

We were very lucky with the weather for most of our planting days, if not with the underfoot conditions, which were very boggy! But our volunteers are made of stern stuff and got a huge amount of work done with good humour. We were joined by volunteers aged from 3 to 87, as well as several groups including Orb Community Arts and the Knaresborough Nidd Gorge Conservation Group, who took a break from working on the paths around the river to come and boost our numbers. We are hugely grateful to...

We were contacted back in July 2025 by a musician performing under the name of HerOrangeCoat, asking permission to come and roam the woods until she found a place where she felt inspired, settle down and write a song using vocals and ukulele, then record it in situ. This process was a part of the project called The Woodland Sessions, backed by the Youth Music NextGen Fund. Capturing the spaces that inspired them, these field recordings were all written and recorded by HerOrangeCoat out in...

We had two working parties on the go today, making the most of the good weather. We had already planned a hedge-laying day, recreating a hedge between the trees on the hay field on Bilton Hall Drive. One of the issues we are meeting on this field is dog walkers accessing the field through gaps in the hedge and letting their dogs run and leave their poo on a field we reap unsprayed hay from. We would therefore like to protect both the hay and the wildlife from this. Some of the group had just...

We were delighted at the support for another ceilidh this year, with participants old and young obviously having a great time. The caller of the band even commended them, not only on their enthusiasm but also for following her instructions so obediently! We must say that they look as if they know what they are doing here: We are hugely grateful to the Dark Horse Ceilidh Band for offering their time and skills free of charge, (particularly violinist Amy, a Long Lands shareholder, who stepped...

We had feared a low turnout or even a washout for our November working party, but we should have trusted both the weather and our stalwart volunteers, of whom 21 turned out despite waking up to pouring rain! In a busy two hours, we cleared leaf mould, soil and brambles from the Beryl Burton Cycleway which runs down the north side of the site. It even got so warm that some of us had to take off our coats! We cleared enough to fill two large piles of leaf mould to save as compost. Thank you to...

Our quiz night on Saturday was quite a night, raising nearly £700 for planting willow and fruit trees. The indomitable quiz masters Andy and Amanda stretched our brains, got us talking and taught us lots of intriguing facts. We learned, for example, that Argentina means the land of silver, that Venus turns in the opposite direction to all the other planets in our solar system, that Barbados means the land of bearded ones, that we have no muscles in our forefingers, and that the Statue of...

Look out for our new calendars, filled with beautiful photos taken throughout the year by volunteers on Long Lands Common and Knaresborough Forest Park. Price £7, available at: Butter Cup community café, Butter Lane, Knaresborough (the ginnel between the market square and the High Street), Wed/Thur/Fri afternoons Twig & Ink, 19 High Street, Knaresborough Classy Chaos vintage shop, Green Dragon Yard, Knaresborough. Huge thanks to these venues for supporting us by stocking our calendars! They...

The searing heat of the summer seems a long time ago now, but we are looking back to our Knaresborough Forest Day event on 13 August....

During our recent celebration event, we were thrilled to be presented with a mosaic featuring Knaresborough Forest, created as a...

We were delighted and honoured to be awarded the Environment Cup at the Knaresborough Town Council Mayor-making ceremony on 22 May. We...

Keen gardeners from Knaresborough and Harrogate gathered at the Centre on Gracious Street on Wednesday evening to learn from the...

Why we ask you to keep dogs on a lead in Knaresborough Forest Park. If you have walked on or near Knaresborough Forest Park recently, you...

Another meeting of the “Last of the Summer Wine” volunteer group today in beautiful sunshine on the first day of spring. A cracked cast...

Our self-styled "Last of the Summer Wine" volunteer group, Andrew, Tony, Roger & Geoff, met on site today and braved the sleety showers....

There has been a lot of activity on the land recently, as teams from GSS Architecture joined us for two days of volunteering under their...

We were thrilled to welcome 45 of our supporters on to the site on a rather dismal February day. They were met near the river by members of the KFP team, who led them up the Beryl Burton Cycleway, along Bilton Hall Drive and down the footpath next to the Jubilee Allotments, explaining along the way which fields form part of Knaresborough Forest Park, and what our plans are for them. The tour ended up at the farm buildings where the walkers were offered mulled apple juice or wine, and home...

A small group of stalwart volunteers turned out on two wet and dreary days over the last two weekends to lay a hedge on the field which...

This is the first entry on our newly revamped website - we hope you enjoy reading them! They will be sent to anyone who has clicked...