Twenty years after the village acted to purchase Garth site to protect it from housing development, the LHI scheme offered us a life line. It gives us the chance to get expert advice on the site, its history and wildlife potential and, to plan for its future uses.

We want to learn about the site's history. English Heritage's Keith Emerick and Neil Redfern encouraged us to research and write a conservation statement. This summarises the documentary evidence we have gleaned from scheduled monument records, earlier historical accounts of life in Cawood and it will outline our plans for ensuring its protection. One of the archaeologists on our group started work on a topographical survey - we will piece this data, together with the evidence from our later surveys - to build up an account of the site's past life.

The group was also concerned about the difficulties people with disabilities (and with pushchairs) have when trying to cross the paths on the Garth. Getting advice on how to improve access without changing the character of the site was a priority.

We aim to bring our research findings to life - we'll update the information panels on the boards at the site, produce nature trail and archaeological trail leaflets, an education pack about the site and give some talks about our findings. The crucial step before we can do all this is to agree with English Heritage which areas within the site need special protection measures and which areas can be used for community activities.

We will use the events page on this website to give details of the activities we are planning over the course of the project. If you would be interested in helping with any of our surveys or training events do please get in touch.

Great Crested Newts saved the Garth site from development. How? Because they live in the margins of the pond. Protected by law, sites with these newts in residence cannot be disturbed. They are nocturnal creatures so it is not easy to film them. As part of the LHI project, we will be learning techniques for studying the newt population. Torch light surveys are planned for Spring 2006, as spring is the best season to find them.

Our group arose from the community in Cawood acknowledging that the Garth site, brought by the villagers in the 1980s to save it from a housing development, was largely an unknown quantity. We knew that there were some rare plant species, some Great Crested Newts and other amphibians, but we weren't sure what to do with the grassland, the pond and the wooded areas to ensure their future survival. The pond was in danger of drying out and is being over-run by rushes. These had been removed but reappear each year, swamping the site. In the past, the grassland had been grazed by cattle but that stopped when the village brought it. The main use now is for recreation and walking dogs. So we need advice on what to do to improve the site and to encourage a wider range of wildlife to thrive on it.

There are hundreds of molehills on the Garth - several families appear to enjoy living here. In the course of their tunneling, as the moles dig through the roots searching for food, they push soil to the surface. In some molehills we have seen traces of building materials. English Heritage has supported us and we worked with local experts and the children of Cawood School to survey part of the grassland area in September 2004. One of our first project tasks is to get the children to wash and evaluate the finds they recorded in the 2004 sift. We plan to survey the molehills on the rest of the site too.

In May 2006 we started to manage a small area of the grassland, with a view to improving the diversity of plants appearing there. The forth coming Garth video shows the some of team in action - marking out the area and then later, raking it up after the first cut. The idea is to cut and rake the site to remove the excess grass vegetation and to leave the sward to see what species take advantage of the new conditions. We'll be keeping an eye on the resulting area and counting how many species are present each season. We're trying to leave this area undisturbed but may cut some grass tracks through it in future years. Raking is hard work, so any villagers interested in helping us clear the cut grass would be very welcome to join us.