This project would not have been possible without the active participation of the Darshill, Ham and Bowlish communities. In particular, the over thirty volunteers who gave their time and enthusiasm to the great range of tasks involved. Much fun was had in addition to the hard work.
To our sponsors, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Medlock Family Trust, Wessex Watermark, the Mendip Hills Fund, Tesco Bags of Help and anonymous individuals, our sincere gratitude for without you, our scope would have been far narrower, our outreach curtailed and our legacy minimal.
Every project has its heroes and ours have been Sue Shaw, who researched without pause and critiqued without mercy; John Rickard and his team from the Somerset Vernacular Building Research Group; the team of highly-qualified biodiversity specialists too numerous to name assembled by Jane Williams; Sue Dickerson, Jane Nicklin and Amanda Hirst who together negotiated and organised our work in schools; our fundraiser, Brian Allen; and the members of the project management team G3 – Eddie Oram, Alan Marter and Ian Keys – who kept the show on the road.
The project has been a high-water mark of our community and that is a matter of pride and celebration. We owe nothing less to the dozens of generations who lived, loved and worked here and made where we live what it is today.