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FIELD REPORT
Nurturing Nature
Field of Dreams Bob and Rosemary Salisbury have transformed their house near Seskinore Forest into a welcoming home to both family and nature. Lindsay Hodges takes a look inside.
N
ature is the ultimate warrior, a seasoned survivor who takes everything we throw at her yet still comes back for more. She keeps going despite the relentless eradication of hedgerows, destruction of natural habitats, drowning of oceans in plastic and, at times, the complete failure of environmental consideration in central and local government policy. Nature has every right to feel completely let down. Yet she does not desert us, still raising defiant fingers of foxgloves on even the most recently razed banksides and trying her best to sustain her precious offspring. Sometimes, however, we truly push Nature to her limits, leaving the land in such a sorry state that only active human assistance can revive and restore it enough to make a comeback. This is demonstrated abundantly in the project taken forward over the last 15 years by Bob and Rosemary Salisbury. Both renowned educationalists who have already made significant contributions to making life better for many, the Salisburys have taken the concept of leaving a legacy to a different level altogether since their decision to move back to Rosemary’s native County Tyrone in 2003. It was meant to be a 20
temporary move, but that’s not what fate had in store. They are now into their 16th year at their house near Seskinore Forest, transformed into both a family home and a genuine space for nature. They turned the bleakest five acres into a balanced beauty of a garden, woodland, herb and vegetable patch, orchard and ponds. From nothing, the land now hosts 64 bird species, 12 mammal species and a parade of bees, butterflies, moths and insects. To say it is a complete transformation simply couldn’t do it justice. When Christine Cassidy and I visited, Bob was jubilant with the appearance of a 65th bird species, a family of great spotted woodpeckers. The story of their labour of love for the landscape is vividly described in Bob’s engaging and honest book, Field of Dreams, published by The Blackstaff Press in 2018. While fód in Irish refers to turf, or a sod, the name of their new home simply became a shortened version of the Field of Dreams, since Bob and Rosemary were forever working somewhere to turn the land around. Through an area of wild wood that opens out into a meadow, or beside crafted ponds that blend perfectly into a glade of once skip-rescued saplings, the air is alive with birdsong. It was the absence of any sound that Rosemary first noticed when they moved to Tyrone, remembering from
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