Step back in time in Yorkshire's secret meadow - where flowers rarely seen in 2022 are still in bloom

Staff at the museum, in Hutton-le-Hole on the edge of the North York Moors, are now celebrating over two decades since the field was planted by encouraging people to engage with its flowers digitally.The field was sown in 1999 after local naturalist Nan Sykes was perturbed after struggling to find rare arable plants on the Moors.A target list of plants to nurture and grow was drawn up, based on species that were known to have been in the North York Moors National Park at the start of the twentieth century.Now, every August, the field is a riot of colour as tall poppies mingle with yellow corn marigolds and wild daisies.In celebration of another summer of flowering, staff have created a new short film, developed with funding from the Culture Recovery Fund, and administered by Arts Council England to support organisations in the wake of the pandemic.Rosie Barrett, events co-ordinator at the museum, said: “Our cornfield was established in 1999 as part of a project to track down increasingly rare arable plants, many at imminent risk of extinction.“It began with the concerns of local naturalist Nan Sykes in the late 1980s – she conducted her own survey of the North York Moors National Park and was deeply unsettled by the number of plants that she couldn’t find.“For most of the agricultural year, our field is tucked away, walked past on a trip to the reconstruction Iron Age Roundhouse, but each August it makes its presence felt in wonderful blooms of colour“We run events on site to share the cornfield with visitors too, and now the video is a lovely opportunity to reach a wider audience with this important story. “Early in the project, seeds were collected and deposited with Kew Garden’s Millennium Seed Bank and the field was shared with local farmers, many of whom were also aware that changes to farming methods had led to the loss of this arable plant heritage.Today, the demonstration cornfield at the Ryedale Folk Museum remains one of the only sites in the north of England in which to view some of the rare arable wildflower species.“These plants would have been commonly seen by our ancestors,” said Ms Barrett, “but today most of us are unlikely to encounter them in the wild.“These are beautiful and exceptionally rare flowers, but they are also important plants for pollinators, part of a wider ecosystem.”