Tucked away at the top of the Museum, our field is transformed each year into a swathe of colour.
Conserving rare and endangered arable plants is very close to our hearts here at Ryedale Folk Museum. A hundred and fifty years ago, the British countryside was a different place, with an array of arable flora growing and coexisting within crops. But during the mid part of the last century, advances in agricultural production had devastating effects on British wildflowers.
It was during the 1980s that local naturalist Nan Sykes conducted her own survey of the wild plants of the North York Moors National Park. From her findings, the Cornfield Flower Project grew to ensure that declining species could be rescued from the brink of extinction. Today, in our cornfield, friendly yellow corn marigolds, corn buttercups and wild daisies are punctuated by red prickly poppies each summer. In amongst them, delicate pink corncockles push through.
Many of these species are very rarely encountered in the wild so our traditional cornfield is a rather unusual and special adoption! Many wildflowers are annuals, but some can lie undisturbed for years, ready to ‘wake up’ unexpectedly to surprise and delight.
For the adopter, and with our thanks, you will receive...
A tour of the cornfield and species and a framed Kate Semple artist's print, which features some of the plants from our field. In additional, you will receive an invitation to a drinks reception in 2024, if you have adopted the object by 30 April 2024.