Wicken Fen

Wicken Fen is one of the oldest nature reserves in the country and, as the last surviving remnant of original fenland left in Britain, one of the most important, too. Over the last 400 years over 99 per cent of East Anglia's ancient Great Fen has been drained and converted into farmland, richly productive for agriculture, but largely sterile for wildlife.

Not surprisingly the National Trust's 1,600 acres (648ha) at Wicken have assumed a critical importance. Since they purchased their first tiny piece of land here in 1899, the Trust has made over 60 separate acquisitions at Wicken, and the plan is to continue to add to their holdings by acquiring farmland to the south of the reserve and restoring it to its original wetland state. The ultimate aim is to create a nature reserve covering over 13,000 acres (5,260ha) between Cambridge and Wicken Fen.

Wildlife at Wicken

The nature reserve itself includes a short boardwalk (0.75 miles/1.2km) and a longer nature trail (2.25 miles/3.6km), while eight hides allow close-up views over the many ponds and ditches which, depending on the time of year, are often teeming with wildlife. For instance, Wicken Fen hosts more than 1,000 types of beetle, and visiting coleopterists (that's beetle-lovers to you and me) once included the young Charles Darwin who came here to collect specimens while studying at Cambridge.

As well as 212 species of spider, Wicken Fen also supports nearly 300 different types of plant. In the summer the ponds and pools buzz with dragonflies and damselflies, and are full of yellow and white water lilies, water mint and water violets, plus the greater bladderwort, a carnivorous plant with small yellow flowers and virtually no roots that feasts on small aquatic life forms. Away from the water the uncultivated grassland features early marsh and southern marsh orchids, usually flowering in June, while in the areas of sedge you can find milk parsley and the light purple flowers of the rare marsh pea. A visit to the reserve is a must, and you should allow the bare minimum of an hour to explore.

Managing the land

An on-going programme of management is essential to maintain the distinctive character of the land. For generations Wicken peat has been cut for burning, and sedge (a grass-like plant that grows on wet ground) has been harvested for thatching. The peat is now untouched, but sedge is still cut every three years in the summer – just as it has been at Wicken ever since 1419. Meanwhile konik ponies, already used in the Norfolk Broads, have been introduced to Verrall's Fen to stop cleared scrub from reinvading; and ditches are periodically dredged of choking vegetation by a process with the splendid name of 'slubbing'.

From the nature reserve car park walk up Lode Lane towards the village of Wicken. Before you meet the main road turn right on to Back Lane and follow this route, which soon becomes a pleasant track running behind the houses. When you reach the far end of the lane, just after a windmill, turn right on to a wide track through the fields. (If you have parked in the centre of the village take the signposted public footpath via Cross Green, just along from and opposite the pub, out to the fields.)

Follow this wide route down to two footbridges. Cross the second bridge and turn right along the bank of Monk's Lode, with St Edmund's Fen opposite. A lode, incidentally, is another name for an artificially cut waterway.

After 550yds (503m) branch left for a long straight track, known as a drove, and head out across the fields to Priory Farm. Join the surfaced lane and continue all the way to the end.

Turn right by the raised Cockup Bridge and walk along the bank of the Burwell Lode (don't be tempted by the footbridge). Continue for 1.5 miles (2.4km) past Adventurers' Fen, named after the 17th-century 'Gentlemen Adventurers' who first started draining the fens in earnest.

At a high-arched footbridge over Wicken Lode turn right and walk along this bank back towards Wicken Fen past a National Trust sign. If you continue across the footbridge and walk for another 0.25 miles (400m) you come to Upware, with a pub (see Where to Eat and Drink) and picnic area. Ignoring paths off into the open fen and fields on your right, continue along the bank until its junction with Monk's Lode. Across the water you pass the lofty thatched Tower Hide.

Cross the short bridge by Goba Moorings and continue alongside Wicken Lode, not along Monk's Lode (to the right). The lush vegetation of Wicken Fen is now either side.

When you get to the end turn left to the visitor centre (open daily all year round). There is a small admission charge to the reserve itself, which is open daily from dawn to dusk. Near by is the restored Fen Cottage, and a lovely thatched boathouse where the reserve's traditional working fen boat is kept. To return to the car park and village, simply walk back up the lane past the houses.