Farm walks, workshops, information sessions and the occasional shared meal.
The cluster runs regular events to bring members together, share practical knowledge, invite stakeholders in, and build the relationships that make landscape-scale work possible. Some events are for members only, some are open to neighbours and the wider public — each listing says which. If you would like to be notified about upcoming events, get in touch.
The first in-person gathering of the cluster since CIC incorporation. Members visit a host holding, walk the land together, discuss priorities for the year ahead, and share a meal. Date to be confirmed once the host is settled.
A guided evening listening walk through one of the cluster's scrub-edge habitats, at the peak of nightingale song. An opportunity to hear what the landscape still supports, and to start building the cluster's 2026 territory map. Read about the nightingale work →
First AGM of the CIC. Annual accounts, review of the year's work, director elections, and priorities for the year ahead. Full agenda circulated ahead of time.
Dates, venues and details. Cluster events are kept deliberately flexible — we confirm dates once the host and format are settled, and circulate details by email first. This page will be updated as each event firms up. If you want to be on the notification list, email contact@uppermedway.org.
The five founding directors signed the CIC36 declarations and memorandum of association, incorporating the Upper Medway Land Stewards Cluster as a Community Interest Company. Asset locked to the Ashdown Forest Foundation. Companies House registration followed the same week.
One of the well-attended catchment-group meetings funded by the High Weald National Landscape's Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme. Practical sessions on coordinated deer management, water, and how a longer-term cluster structure might work. It was this meeting, and others like it, that made the case for incorporating as a CIC. Full write-up →
A winter series of workshops, farm walks and information evenings across the catchment, under the Upper Medway & Shovelstrode Catchment Group project. Topics included hedgerow management, regenerative grazing, water management at catchment scale, and social gatherings that built the informal network the CIC is now built on.
The cluster aims for low-overhead, high-trust events. Most are hosted on members' farms — the host walks the group around, shows what they are working on, and sets up a conversation. Some are more formal (invited specialists, statutory stakeholders) and some are purely social. We try to run at least one field-based gathering per season so that members see each other's land throughout the year, not just in one season.
Wherever an event generates useful material — notes, photos, a short report, an outcome worth sharing — it goes into the past-events archive so that the cluster has an institutional memory. This is particularly important given that not everyone can attend every event.
To be notified about upcoming events, or to offer your holding as a host, email the cluster.
Contact the cluster