National Trails eNewsletter

Newsletter November 2008 enews November 2008

River Mole at Box Hill, North Downs Way. Anne-Katrin Purkiss © Natural England

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good summer and managed to make the best of the few dry sunny days we had. The good news is that trees love rain and so we are blessed with spectacular autumn colours. Snow in October was a bit of a shock - but a beautiful one!

This month our featured Trail is The Ridgeway, a wonderful 87 mile walk through chalk downland, following a route that has been used by travellers, herdsmen and armies since prehistoric times. There is also exciting news about the South West Coast Path, but first I will let the new member of the national team introduce himself...

Hi, my name is Gavin Stark and I've recently taken over from Terri Edwards as the 'delivery leader' for Natural England's work on National Trails. I'm based out of our Worcester office and have worked on public access related initiatives for a number of years. So far it's been a case of meeting some of the people involved and finding out more about our work in this area. The positive feedback from users of the Trails is really heartening and I'm looking forward to the new challenge and preferably visiting a few of the Trails!

Gavin

 

You may have already read about the South West Coast Path gaining international recognition as one of the best walks in the world. Of course we've always known that our Trails are up there with the best, but it is great to see one of them getting the recognition they deserve. Well done to Mark Owen, the South West Coast Path Trail Officer, for ensuring the Trail is managed and promoted to a high standard - but he can't take the credit for the landscape it passes through! To find out more click here.

Staying with the international theme, in early October a Swedish visitor spent 4 days with some of the National Trail team on a whistle-stop fact finding tour. He walked on the Cotswold Way, Offa's Dyke Path, the Pennine Bridleway and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path while finding out how we create, manage and promote our Trails. Sweden does not yet have a family of National Trails and his ambition is to create the first in his local area, to encourage tourism and boost the local economy. He chose to visit the National Trails of England and Wales because they have a reputation for high standards amongst European walkers.

Recently we have received some lovely comments from people who have only just discovered the National Trail website, such as "Couldn't believe my luck when I found this site" and "Just found the website - excellent - will no doubt use it a lot". So if you have friends and family who enjoy a walk, why not tell them about the National Trail website and make their day too!

Now I'll pass you over to Jos Joslin, for a visit to The Ridgeway National Trail.

Bye for now,

Sheila Talbot

News from the Ridgeway - Autumn/Winter 2008

Wendover Woods - Tina Stallard, Natural EnglandAutumn is a great time of year to be on The Ridgeway in the Chilterns, renowned for its beech woodlands. The colours this year have been fantastic and there's nothing better than tramping through woodland, kicking up leaves and enjoying that wonderful smell of slowly decaying vegetation. Combine that with lunch in a character pub in front of a log fire, and life doesn't get much better! To help you plan such a visit there are a good number of circular walks around this half of The Ridgeway - have a look at our 'Walks around the Ridgeway'  pages under Planning a trip on our website. 

Photo: Wendover Woods - Tina Stallard, Natural England

In the last year we have been working with colleagues from several highway authorities to establish new circular walks as we know they are how many people choose to enjoy our Trails. Two new ones on the downs west of the River Thames were launched last summer, including one around the Uffington White Horse, and another two along the western half of The Ridgeway are imminent. We are also planning another from the village of Nuffield that will take people through a lovely section of the Chilterns. 

 

Photo: View west from Uffington Castle - J. Joslin, Natural England

Another focus to our work has been providing information on the Trail, again something that people tell us they want. We have used old structures at key access points that used to hold information about our code of respect to now show a map on one side with information about the landscape on the other. We hope you'll like them! 

Photo: Display board on The Ridgeway - J. Joslin, Natural England

 

 

 

Of course, much of the work done on The Ridgeway goes pretty much unnoticed. Miles of vegetation is mown each year and side vegetation cut back to keep paths clear, signs are replaced and improved, gates are maintained, and litter and fly tipping removed. Most of this work is done by our small team working with a large number of volunteers who give their time, energy and expertise so generously - we thank and applaud them.

Photo: Chiltern Woodland - Chilterns Conservation Board

Jos Joslin, National Trail Officer for The Ridgeway

 

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