University of Exeter in bloom

Streatham and St Luke’s campuses

The maintenance of the grounds is part of the work of the Grounds team which includes specialists in propagating and growing of plants in our nursery, plant husbandry on the campuses, tree care and tree surgery, and preparation and maintenance of sports ground and surfaces.

Streatham is the larger of the two Exeter based campuses and has been described by The Times as the ‘best gardened campus in Britain’ and by The Independent as having a ‘sublime’ setting. The original planting on the campus dates back to the 19th century, when the grounds of Reed (then Streatham) Hall were laid out and planted by the Veitch family of nurserymen, with funds provided by East India Merchant Richard Thornton West. This style and quality of planting has inspired the development of the campus and successive Grounds Managers and horticultural staff have exploited the wonderful micro-climates which the buildings and topography create, to grow rare, tender and exotic plants, continually enhancing campus collections and improving the biodiversity and resources for learning and enjoyment.

St Luke’s has a variety of formal landscapes with seasonal floral displays, herbaceous borders, shrubberies, areas for sport and recreation and specific features for wildlife. The landscaping and planting is designed to create a vibrant collegic atmosphere, with horticultural interest throughout the seasons providing students, staff and visitors with a diverse range of botanically significant plants and landscaping including the National Collection of Azara; a small genus of mostly yellow flowered shrubs from South America. The grounds at St Luke’s Campus are recognised as integral to the heritage and visual amenity and contribute to the biodiversity of both Exeter and the South West.

The University’s estates in Exeter comprise of 153 hectares of Grounds and Gardens (378 acres), 31 hectares of Sports Grounds (77 acres), and approximately 10,000 trees. These trees on campus have many environmental benefits including removing two tonnes of pollutants each year (worth £11,728 pa), storing 1,951 tonnes of CO₂ (£125,000 pa), diverting up to 4,217 cubic metres of storm water run-off from sewers (£6,394 pa) and repossessing 36 tonnes of carbon (£2,300 pa).

The earliest estate plantings are in the Reed Arboretum, dating from the 1860s and one of the oldest trees, a Western Red Cedar, had to be felled a few years ago and is remembered by its large stump preserved near the bottom of steps leading from Reed Hall formal gardens.

Staff, students and the local community are welcomed to the campuses grounds to look after and learn about them. This includes both an Exeter Community Garden which is also visited by local primary schools to help improve knowledge of food production and healthy eating, and a St Luke’s Volunteer Garden (SLUG) which is a new initiative set up in 2018 thanks to the Alumni Annual Fund, which aims to foster wellbeing as well as interacting with green spaces. There is also support for lifelong learning with student research with projects studying bees in greenhouses, magpies, newts etc., student volunteer tree planting in Lower Hoopern Valley and there are also Horticultural Highlights, Biodiversity Trails and Tree Trails for anyone to download from the Grounds webpages.

Penryn campus

In Cornwall our Grounds team manages Penryn Campus and an additional Falmouth University campus close by. The campuses total 150 acres, the wildflower area has increased by 4.5 acres over the last two years and there are three veteran trees (oak and ash) that are more than 500 years old. They are full of a huge variety of plants, insects and wildlife and the Grounds team encourages biodiversity to flourish. In particular, during the lockdown period following COVID-19 regulations, the Grounds team increased wildflower areas on campus by 60%, supporting native flora and fauna to regenerate.

The grounds are teeming with interesting plants and facts such as the secret star grotto at the bottom of the campus which was built by American GIs in WWII or the greenhouse in the Walled Garden that can be used for meetings. On campus, herbs and vegetables are also grown and available to all, and there are seven species of bat including pipistrelle, long eared and horseshoe. They regularly feed on insects in the wildflower areas around the Glasney Village accommodation.

Students, staff and the local community can take part in many initiatives on the campus grounds including a recent partnership with Rocket Gardens to distribute unwanted plants, working with Falmouth University to grow natural dye plants for fashion and textile courses and involving volunteers in tree planting and wildflower seeding. Additionally the Students’ Union societies often get involved with projects such as Green Living society, EcoSoc, BeeSoc etc. Apple Press day is also usually held in October when apples collected from the Walled Garden are pressed, and anyone can bring a container for some free juice and/or have a go at the press.

Sustainability is integral to the Grounds team’s work and the team tries to reuse as much as possible. Examples include:

• Trialling chemical free weed and moss killer;
• Letting areas grow wild and increasing wildflower planting and areas;
• Leaving dead trees in situ, either on their side or as monoliths so they become a habitat for birds, mice, insects etc. Some dead trees have been turned into benches. If any wood is chipped it’s reused on campus to scatter around plants or on paths. The team try to reuse those chippings near the spot where the wood was chipped so no diesel is used to transport it;
• A range of edible plants have been planted around the campus so that all garden users can harvest some fruit, nuts, leaves etc. as they wander. This is in addition to the mixed fruit orchard and veg gardens, and the young nut orchard at the base of the lime avenue;
• Green/brown/sea thrift roofs to delay rainwater run-off are included on the Air/Launchpad, Peter Lanyon, Daphne Du Maurier buildings with a small one on the Stella Turk building;
• Electrical garden equipment is gradually being purchased to replace petrol equipment when it comes to the end of its life. The team now have an electric hedge cutter, leaf blower, strimmer and a chainsaw. More will be added as the technology improves.