Thursday 5 September 2013

The Great British Walk at Wicken Fen with the National Trust


Last weekend we got the opportunity to attend a brilliant event with the National Trust to mark the launch of the Great British Walk Festival.

Now, for someone who doesn't drive, I can on occasion be heard grumbling about all the places I can't get to, not having my own a car.  But it seems I had that all the wrong way round. What I should of course be doing, is celebrating all the wonderful places and hidden gems that can only be explored on foot.

Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire is one such gem.  It was the first ever nature reserve that the infant National Trust purchased (for a mere £10), and has been in their expert care ever since 1899.

A hugely important wetland area in terms of diversity of species, it offers many treasures if you get out and explore.  Much of the area is accessible with buggies or wheelchairs, with special raised boardwalks, and of course, this part of the world is famously flat.


It was a glorious day, and our guide Lois talked us through the history of the area, how the wind pumps worked, how historically the area supported the local residents.  She was a wealth of knowledge about the plant and animal life and Ruby was very happy to follow her around soaking up the information.  We had a giggle listening to her tell Lois about some dragonflies we'd seen on holiday who were 'having a cuddle in the air'.


We headed out to the Butterfly Walk where entomologists and  lepidoterists have for hundreds of years studied the huge range of insects and butterflies.  We were loaned nets to catch our own bugs, and identification sheets to see if we could work out what they were - although with 1,500 different kinds of beetle alone, it was no easy task!




After the creepy-crawlies, we ambled back to the visitor centre, stopping off at one of the bird hides for a bit of twitching.  There was a huge variety to see, both on the water and on the well stocked bird feeders.  We saw Coots; Goldfinches and Collared Doves but luckier (and quieter!) visitors might spot Hen Harriers; Cuckoos, Barn Owls and Widgeons at Wicken.




After that it was time to re-fuel with some lovely lunch (they have a great cafe on site, but it is rather plagued with wasps from the nearby orchard which was a major problem for me.  Maybe they should check-out my top tip for keeping wasps away!)

Once we were all fed and watered, we headed off for more activities.  Pond-dipping was first for us, and Ruby thoroughly enjoyed this.  It was amazing to see what's lurking below the surface and we were very lucky to see a Great Crested Newt.  These are specially protected and as such he was only allowed out of the water for a very short time.




Next we headed off on a boat trip up the lode - a kind of Roman canal, if you will.  We were paired up with Alice and her family, and after allaying their fears - they misheard the skipper and thought he'd said "you girls sit up at the shark end", when he actually said the sharp end or front of the boat - we were in great spirits as we leisurely set sail, taking in all the beautiful water lilies and reeds.  Sadly we didn't see any Otters or Water Voles, but I gather there are many.


Our final activity of the day was geocaching.  Now, we've tried this before on a phone app and never managed to find them.  This might be because they were mini caches locally which apparently are hard to find.  But we needn't have worried, this was a special trail for us, and armed with the pre-loaded GPS receiver, the girls hurried off in search of treasure.  At each cache they collected components to make a little dragonfly, and they thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.



We had a truly fabulous day.  It was brilliant to be in the great outdoors, catching up with other bloggers Jax; Cerys; Alice; Claire and Alex and their families.  Wicken Fen is a true joy to explore, we loved it so much we didn't want to go home - but more about that in my next post!  Go check out the map of the Great British Walk page and find somewhere new, local to you to explore.

Disclosure: We were invited to this event by the National Trust who provided all the activities, expenses, refreshments and a goody bag.  All views expressed are my own.

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall
 

17 comments:

  1. It really was a lovely day wasn't it? Lovely to meet your family too.

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  2. wow - what a day! Sounds like a brilliant place to go, love the interactivity of it all with the giant nets - will check it out :)

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    1. It was really brilliant Ali. You'd love it. Come camping with me!

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  3. Looks fab, we went pond dipping on holiday and all three kids loved it, plus crabbing. Your pics are fab.

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    1. Thank you Emma. I really expected some screams at the creepy-crawlies, but she was fascinated. x

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  4. Wicken Fen isn't too far from us and I am now very tempted to go and check it out. Looks like you had the perfect weather for a lovely weekend :-)

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    1. There was a family there Sunday from your city and they said it only took about an hour or so to drive. I'd thoroughly recommend it, was a brilliant day. x

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  5. It sounds look a wonderful way to past the day.
    The windmill looks like a great building.
    Denise

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    1. The wind pump is a stunning structure, and really interesting inside too.

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  6. It looks like a brilliant day out, with some wonderful photos to look back on from it, too. I'm thinking we should get a National Trust membership, and we need to have a go at geocaching, and your post has made me want to do those things all the more!

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  7. What a packed day of adventure and fun, something the NT are wonderful for organising. Great photos from your day where the girls are having a lovely time in nature's playground. Thanks for linking up and sharing with Country Kids.

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  8. It looks like you all had a great time. We couldn't make it, so it's lovely to read how it went.
    This post would be perfect for the weekly #familydays Linky on mumsdotravel.com, if you'd like to join in!

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  9. Looks fabulous, wish we could've come but it was too far for me with all the children and no car. Really love the dragonflies! x

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  10. Looks like you had a fabulous time, I really love the idea of pond dipping - I used to collect newts when my mum had a pond :) Great stuff x

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  11. You certainly ticked off a lot of 50things that day - sounds fantastic and such great photos.

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  12. Hello, Do you where I can get the ID sheets that you used? Thank you. Jason :)

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