Test Valley BNG Scheme

Blackbarn Farm: a Biodiversity Net Gain scheme registered with Test Valley Borough Council, combining traditional orchard creation, species-rich grassland and hedgerow restoration with one of the first organic nut harvests of its kind in the UK. 

​

Mark and Helen Glover, and their son Edward, have farmed the chalk downland at Blackbarn Farm near Grateley for over eighty years. In that time they have planted forty acres of new woodland and thirty-five acres of walnut orchards, moved to zero-till and cover cropping, kept beehives on the farm, and used no insecticides. Every winter, a feeding programme brings stone curlews, hen harriers, woodcock, red kites and grey partridge to the land. This is not a recent pivot - it's simply how they farm. 

​

The BNG scheme at Blackbarn extends across three parcels - Townsend, Sunnyside and Northeys, and Trackside and Middle Paddock - where nearly seven thousand trees will be planted, predominantly English walnut with cherry, plum, nectarine, quince and apple alongside. Beneath them, species-rich wildflower grassland will be established and managed through traditional hay cutting. New native hedgerows will be created and existing ones retained throughout the thirty-year scheme, which delivers well over two hundred biodiversity units and a net gain approaching double the baseline. 

​

The harvest feeds The Cracked Nut Company, the Glovers' business, which brought in its first commercial crop this year and moves into full production in 2026. Most nuts sold in Britain are imported seconds the Glovers' are grown and harvested here.