life - COUNTRYSIDE & FARMING
THE NATIONAL
TRUST – THE BEST
OF EVERYTHING
As the days lengthen and summer
approaches more and more people
will spend leisurely hours in the
countryside, enjoying the splendid
scenery the Island has to offer.
The Island is well known for its
excellent network of footpaths and
the variety of landscape waiting to
be discovered and this is particularly
so during the two weeks of the
Walking Festival. This event attracts
thousands of participants from both
the Island and further afield but
what many people don’t realise is
that so much of the countryside they
walk over and enjoy is looked after
by a charity – The National Trust.
The Trust was set up in 1895 to
protect beautiful countryside from
spreading urbanisation. The first
property acquired on the Isle of
Wight was St. Boniface Down
in 1922 and the Trust now cares
for over 4,000 acres of Island
countryside and 17 miles of
stunning coastline. Sweeping chalk
downland, woodland, heathland,
52
far mland,
saltmarsh,
mudflats
and
sand dunes are all
now conserved
by the National
Trust on the
Island, forever,
for everyone.
As
well
as
providing areas
for
recreation
or
quiet
contemplation
the land cared for
by the Trust also
provides some of
the best habitat
for
wildlife.
Management
of these diverse
habitats
is
carried out by
five wardens supported by a small
group of volunteers and requires a
wide range of skills and knowledge.
The skills include selective gorse
burning, scrub clearance and the use
of specialist grazing animals which
not only enhance the landscape but
ensure downland habitats remain
suitable for a wide range of plants,
insects and flowers. The wardens
also use traditional crafts such as
coppicing, pollarding and hedge
Island Life - www.isleofwight.net