A return to ancient farming methods has resulted in the revival of rare plants at a beauty spot.

Rottingdean farmer David Baker was asked to take his four working Percheron horses to drag a harrow across a strip of land at Sheepcote Valley, Brighton, in February.

Botanists had advised the Friends of Sheepcote Valley (FOSV) that disturbing the ground with a harrow could bring back rare arable weeds not seen there since 1985.

FOSV spokeswoman Jane Hawkins said yesterday: "We've just heard from botanists Paul Harmes and Tony Spiers and they have found Venus's Looking Glass, one of the plants we were hoping would return.

"It is a tiny, fragile upright bell-shaped flower, purplish in colour and used to be found in old-fashioned cornfields.

It is now quite rare and suggests other rare arable weeds may be lying dormant there too."

Another rare weed, stinking camomile, has been found in the same area. Mrs Hawkins said: "Apparently, although it has an attractive daisy-like flower, it does smell pretty awful."

Mr Baker was invited to harrow the valley because he was the last farmer to work on the land 20 years ago.

Mrs Hawkins said: "We are absolutely thrilled to bits. For me personally, when so many species are continually disappearing or under threat, it is tremendous to have played just very a small part in reversing the trend and increasing biodiversity.

The two botanists and Matthew Thomas, Brighton and Hove City Council's ecologist, want FOSV to organise more experimental agriculture, probably ploughing a strip of land and doing more harrowing in autumn as well as late winter.

Mr Spiers said: "The seeds have lain dormant for all this time. They are a good indicator that, given the right conditions, other plants may return."

He has shown the plants to young FOSV members including Jarvis Adam and Ewan Clinch, both five.

Jarvis's mother Siobhan Adam, herbalist and chairwoman of the FOSV, said "It's lovely they will grow up seeing old-fashioned cornfield plants in the area where they play."