THE completion of a £620,000 fundraising campaign to restore and manage a 57-hectare site in the heart of Cheshire has been celebrated by the Woodland Trust.
Dutton Park Farm, near Frodsham, in the Mersey Forest, sits in the Weaver Valley Regional Park and has been bought by the trust to ensure the site is restored, extended and safeguarded for all.
To mark its acquisition, the trust held an open day and treated supporters to a guided tour of the woodland.
Dutton Park Farm has it all - ancient woodland, wetland, meadow, areas of young trees and some arable land.
Cheshire has only 4% woodland cover of which less than 1% is ancient.
The trust now plans to involve 1,500 young people in creating 20 hectares (48 acres) of new woodland, restore 10 hectares (24 acres) of wet meadow and wetland habitats, as well as install 4km of new pathways and interpretation boards.
Trust head of regional development Laura Judson said: 'We started many months ago with an ambitious project and a vision for a conservation partnership to protect a mosaic of habitats.
'At the time we didn't know whether we would be successful, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we felt we simply had to go for.'
