Lower Farm, Britford, Wiltshire, UK 2006 (photo)

Lower Farm, Britford, Wiltshire. At Britford, just south of Salisbury on the River Avon, a complex system of leats is used to channel water over the valley bottom in order to encourage early spring grass for flocks of sheep. The system of water meadows developed here from the early 17th century. Photographed in March 2006. By 1634 the idea of ‘floating’ the meadows, the intentional flooding of the land to promote the early growth of grass in the spring, alongside the river was being tried out at Britford, one of the earliest examples of the use of water meadows in the county.