A sustainable land management plan by Arreton farm shop Harvey Brown’s has reached a new phase.
A 30-acre field on the approach to the new business has now been returned to nature following the completion of phased quarrying and restoration.
Following the return of the previously stockpiled top soils the area is being left to regenerate but will next year be used to grow produce for sale in the farm shop.
In the meantime, restoration will intensify on the field opposite and when this is complete, that too will be returned for agricultural use.
This leaves one more field to be quarried before the site is complete.
It will mean that by the end of 2024 around 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel will have been quarried from the Arreton Valley site in phases by local company Wight Building Materials.
All aggregate extracted has been used for building materials on the Island – including the foundations and polished floor at Harvey Brown’s.
All quarried land has been – and will be – restored to the wishes of the Brown family who have been farming the area for generations and in line with the requirements of the associated planning permissions obtained before quarrying began.
“It is great to have reached this milestone and we are looking forward to planting our first crops on the newly restored site,” said Harvey Brown’s Jemma Brown.
"We are happy to say that this work is all part of a sustainable approach to land management – sand and gravel will be extracted for local use and then the land restored back to agriculture.
“We are pleased to be part of an ongoing project that has made optimum use of the land around us.
“Growing produce on our own doorstep means there could not be fewer food miles between production and retail.”
One field worked earlier in the quarrying programme is also now in use as a solar farm providing green energy.
All quarrying on site has also been undertaken under the supervision of archaeologists from the University of Southampton who have been gaining a picture of history of how the land was used in Roman times as well as in the bronze and iron ages.
Steve Burton, Wight Building Materials general manager, added:
“It has been great to work with the Brown family on a project that has enabled us to extract sand and gravel for the local construction trade but in a way that has also helped a new local business to flourish in a sustainable way.”
Harvey Brown’s and Wight Building Materials each employ around 40 local people.
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