Cambridgeshire's Great Fen to become a green travel hotspot

The Cambridgeshire countryside is to grow as a tourist destination thanks to the Wildlife Trust's Great Fen Project.

The Project, which began in 2002, aims to recreate part of what was once England's finest wetland, before it was drained to make way for agriculture, and has already used lottery grants to buy up more than half of its target area of 3,700 hectares.

“It’s not seen as the most attractive landscape right now. If you want to go on holiday, it’s not the first place you think of,” admitted project manager Chris Gerrard.

Photo: Wildlife Trust

But once lost habitats and species return, he hopes the wildlife reserve will attract visitors from around the world. This will create new tourism businesses, and he also hopes that traditional businesses which used to rely on the wetlands, such as reed-thatching, will be revived.

At the moment, the fens are only accessible by foot, but Chris’s vision is that visitors will be able to experience the fens on horseback, by bike, by boat – and perhaps even by ice-skate in the winter, once a lake is recreated. An all-terrain electric wheelchair is on its way, to enable less able-bodied visitors to explore the muddy terrain, and an environmentally-friendly visitor centre is in the planning stages.

Speaking at the 10th anniversary celebrations of Biosphere Expeditions, a not-for-profit conservation volunteering organisation, Chris said visitors could even use waterways to reach the Great Fens.

“If they come by boat, they might stop at market towns like Ramsey, and spend their money in the shops and restaurants there too,” he explained.

Travel company Wildlife Travel, which gives all its profits to the Wildlife Trust, has already devised a holiday which explores the wetland and woodland of the Great Fen, and includes learning about the traditional brick-making industry of the fens. It departs in May next year.

www.greatfen.org.uk