EVERYTHING'S COMING OUT TO PLAY:A CACHE FOR HUMPH Traditional Cache
EVERYTHING'S COMING OUT TO PLAY:A CACHE FOR HUMPH
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
Related Web Page
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This is a simple cache in a beautiful part of Herefordshire placed to celebrate Humph's life and lasting legacy to the world. He particularly loved springtime in the woods when "everything's coming out to play". If you visit in springtime you will see lots of cowslips, violets, wood anemones and later on there are orchids and other rare plants and insects.
Dr Humphrey Smith was a friend of mine who worked on terrestrial protozoa in the lab next door to mine on Signy Island in the Antarctic when we were young men. He went on to lecture at Coventry University and became a keen supporter of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. With his 40 years of experience in biological teaching and research, he became interested in silviculture and woodland conservation, particularly when this was managed to deliver sustainable commercial yields and at the same time maintain or improve biodiversity.
Humph decided to use his money to purchase some woodland which his long-standing friends Mark O'Brien & Liz Vice could help him manage. The three of them eventually settled on Mabley & Siege Woods and Mabley Farm in an area known as the Woolhope Dome, which was noted for its unique geology and distinctive flora & fauna. Mabley Farm now totals 140 acres and is managed in a sustainable way under Organic Higher Level Stewardship for the benefit of wildlife and produces quality organic beef and lamb, pedigree breeding stock as well as hay, timber and coppice products.
The farm is also used as an outdoor classroom for educational visits and field trips from schools, colleges and universities. In September 2011 Mabley Farm won the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Farming Award for its contribution to biodiversity and landscape enhancement and it was featured on the BBC TV Countryfile programme.
Alas Humph died of cancer in July 2012 at the age of 66 and a group of friends met on 27th April 2013 to scatter his ashes in the SSSI woodland above this cache, which is placed close to where a public footpath leaves a minor road. There is room to park a car nearby. The cache will take geocoins and small TB's and initially contains a log, pencil & rubber plus a few "goodies".
As Mark and Liz say on their website "We would like to do more to encourage people of all ages to visit Mabley Farm and the Woolhope Dome. This would benefit the local economy as well as our own project. We particularly wish to encourage walkers and cyclists to this part of the Wye Valley AONB (there are many footpaths in the area and our woodland borders the Wye Valley Walk)." Hopefully this geocache will play a part in fulfilling this wish. Click on the 'Related Webpage" link to have a look at their website (www.mableyfarm.co.uk) to see some of the animals and plants you might see if you visit this cache and the area around it.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ubyr ng onfr bs 5 gehax gerr
Treasures
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