The Coldwell Project...

...Our New Reserve

Now that we have made our purchase of two new meadows at Coldwell, our focus is going to be on developing this acquisition as a single new reserve and working to integrate it with our other reserves at Coldwell and develop better connections with the adjacent reserve owned by the RSPB. And, of course, in order to secure the land as ours into the future, we will need to repay the money that we have borrowed.

Our Growing Our Reserves appeal has been launched to support not only our exciting new project at Coldwell, but also to provide a sound financial underpinning to our work across all of our reserves.

On the rest of this page you will find lots of articles giving you more detail of why we are so excited about this new land, the plans we have for it, and why we are asking for your support in bringing those plans into fruition.

What's special about it?

You may be wondering what made us feel that the land at Coldwell was so special that we simply had to buy it when that opportunity arose.  Here are just a few of its special features that made it such an essential acquisition for the Trust. Just click on the title of any of these articles to read them.

Location!    
Location!  
Location!

As this article explains, the new land occupies a crucial location in relation to our own and neighbouring reserves.

Strategic value!

Read this article to learn more about the strategic value of the new land in enabling us to do more joining up for nature. 

Quality!

This article tells of the exceptional quality that the new land already has and its potential for further improvement.

What are our plans for it?

Our precise plans for the new land are still very much in development but we have some definite ideas about what we would like to do. And what we’ll need to spend money on to put these ideas into action.

New paths

Our plans for new permissive bridleways and paths will involve way-marking, ground preparation and the purchase and installation of at least six new rider-friendly gates. Your donations will be crucial for funding this work.

Improvement

The meadow quality of our new land is already exceptional. With careful management we can improve them even more.  This need not be expensive but it will be time consuming as well as hard work for our reserve volunteers.

New planting

We shall need to buy trees for hedging as well as to soften our boundary lines and provide screening in some sections of the meadows.  In addition, we shall, in due course, need to pay for professional hedge-laying, as well as new stock fences and so on.  Individual trees may be inexpensive, but even small expenditures quickly mount up.

Learn more about it

There is lots more to learn about the new reserve, as you can see!