A NEW scheme by the National Trust aims to return rivers to their natural path to reduce the impact of climate change, flood risk and to make space for nature, including the endangered water vole. Allowing rivers to meander like ‘the branches of a tree’ rather than along a single channel will slow river flow,…
AN important Iron Age hillfort and other archaeological remains, covering 73 acres at Ham Hill Country Park has been purchased with £235,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), funding from the Friends of Ham Hill and a capital grant from South Somerset District Council. The area that has been saved for the nation makes…
THE South West Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison is one of 508 MPs who are planting trees as part of the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, a network of forest conservation initiatives to mark Her Majesty’s lifetime of service to the Commonwealth. Dr Murrison has planted silverbirch and rowan trees in Biss Meadows Country Park in Trowbridge….
FOR the first time in 30 years, one of Britain’s rarest and most endearing mammals, the water vole, could now be spotted swimming by the river banks of its former home on the National Trust’s Holnicote Estate on Exmoor. Early in September, 150 water voles were reintroduced at six carefully chosen sites on the estate,…
LIGHT pollution is a fact of 21st century life – look at one of those satellite night-time photographs and see how few dark places there are in Europe or the USA – but there are a few special places where the night skies are still dark, and one of these is Exmoor. In 2011, a…
A NEW woodland trail for walkers, runners and cyclists has opened on the National Trust’s Kingston Lacy, near Wimborne, giving stunning views of the house and allowing visitors to discover previously inaccessible parts of the park. The trail passes through beautiful forest and along old carriage drives that were originally created by the Bankes family….
DISTINCTIVE patches of brown grass at Stonehenge stand out among the green fields but these areas will soon be richer in wild flowers, thanks to the addition of seeds collected from Salisbury Plain. It is more than 15 years since the start of one of Europe’s largest grassland restoration projects in the Stonehenge landscape. National…
THROUGHOUT the autumn, National Trust gardeners are restoring the parterre, a significant and integral part of the formal garden at Kingston Lacy near Wimborne. Kingston Lacy was home to the Bankes family for more than 300 years. The parterre sits to the east of the property and was first laid out by Walter Ralph Bankes…
CHILDREN from a south Dorset primary school have helped to develop a new interactive walking trail to attract people of all ages to explore the magnificent sights of the South Dorset Ridgeway. Hosted by Bincombe Valley Primary School, and led by Dorset Youth Association with the support of Artsreach and the social and ethical house…
FINGERPOSTS are a common feature of the Dorset countryside – and their design is thought to be unique, according to the South Dorset Ridgeway Landscape Partnership which has a project to refurbish these special signs. The fingerposts contribute to the character of the area but their numbers have fallen in recent years and many are in…