DEVON Wildlife Trust (DWT) has received funding of over £13,000 from SITA Trust for its ’Meadows for Everyone’ project.

After many years of decline on Dartmoor, many now hope that the colourful landscape features could be on the verge of renaissance.

As hay meadows are one of England’s rarest habitats, a Heritage Lottery Fund project has been working to promote better management for surviving meadows and a number of owners have been co-operating to establish new flowering grasslands on private land.

The Meadows for Everyone project has complemented these efforts by providing full public access to a swathe of restored meadows.

Bellever Moor and Meadows, DWT’s new Dartmoor nature reserve, includes 40 hectares of enclosed fields that are ready for restoration but are currently inaccessible to the public.

The project will create a network of spectacular flowering hay meadows, linked by a circular walking route to some of the best features of the National Park – including tors, ancient monuments and the East Dart River.

A spokesperson for Devon Wildlife Trust said: ’Bellever Moor and Meadows is situated in the heart of Dartmoor, with stunning views across the moorland. However this remote feeling site sits close to the well visited Bellever Forest, the Forest Commission site featuring a car park and walking trails. That means there is already an audience of walkers and nature-lovers who could enjoy exploring the wildflower rich landscapes of this new DWT nature reserve. But in DWT’s experience, an expanse of meadows requires something to encourage visitors to feel they are permitted to explore.’

SITA Trust’s ’Accessing Nature’ grant will fund new gateways, way-markers, paths and signs, providing a trail through the meadows and linking them to nearby bronze-age monuments, tors and woodlands. For the first time in recent history, local people and visitors to the national park will be able to enjoy unrestricted access to flowering Dartmoor hay meadows.

Ian Chadwick, Devon Wildlife Trust’s Nature Reserves Officer for this site said: ’We’re really excited to have this opportunity to bring Bellever’s wildflower meadows back to their full glory. Thanks to SITA Trust, everyone who loves these colourful habitats will be able enjoy close-up views of the richly varied wildlife that is sure to recolonise the nature reserve over the coming years.’

Marianne Ivin of SITA Trust added: ’This is another wonderful project funded through our Accessing Nature fund. Being able to open up new areas of the site to allow the public to gain access to some beautiful wildflower meadows is very exciting for us to be part of. SITA Trust provides grants through the Landfill Communities Fund. This important source of funding has been available since 1997 and has provided such worthy projects with more than £1.4-billion.’