6. Cultural heritage features:

• The river and its valley are an ancient corridor of settlement, travel and trade.

•Stone Age and later flint tools are found in great numbers all along the valley. These range from hand axes from about 50,000 years ago, to Neolithic flints about 7. Cultural associations: 6000 years old. • Oliver Cromwell is the most famous inhabitant of the • A sequence of Neolithic and Bronze Age area, and his statue is in the market place at St.Ives. monuments is found along the Great Ouse. The most important and spectacular was discovered at • Samuel Pepys attended the same school – the Rectory Farm, Godmanchester - a unique and Grammar School in Huntingdon. Pepys’s house, as it is massive ‘horned’ enclosure at the end of a cursus still known, is on the edge of the meadows at dating from about 5000 years go. Brampton.

• Historically the inland ports and water mills along • Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown the 18thC landscape the river and the livestock markets of St.Ives have architect, owned the Manor of Fenstanton. His fine bought great wealth to the area. The ancient memorial is in Fenstanton church. monuments , churches and large houses are all indicators of this prosperity. • The river has a continuing heritage, now recreational; the Angling Societies have a proud tradition with long- • When the railways brought the Victorian public standing trophies and records; the rival Rowing clubs of into the countryside, the Great Ouse area was St Ives and Huntingdon date to the mid 19thC; discovered by travel writers and acclaimed as a Hemingfords Regatta, begun in 1901, is the oldest ‘beauty spot’. village regatta in the country.

• From 1880 until about 1930 a sizeable colony of • Bluntisham enjoys a long tradition as one of the The Great Ouse artists lived and worked in the villages of Houghton centres of Fen skating where the frozen flooded & Wyton, the Hemingfords, Holywell and St.Ives. meadows provide natural ‘rinks’. The rules of ’Bandy’, a AONB Their presence and work transformed both the local form of ice hockey, were first published here by the and national appreciation of the place. Tebbutt family in 1882.

• In the first half of the 20thC the area was widely • Lucy Boston immortalised the Manor at Hemingford known and much frequented by tourists who Grey with her Green Knowe series of children’s books. “ The real voyage of discovery consists not in enjoyed simple walking, boating, camping and fishing holidays. Tourism continues today with the • Folklore and agricultural traditions are evident with seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes” added interest of the National Trust at Houghton the Plough Monday celebrations with Molly dancing at and birding in the RSPB reserves. Fenstanton. Morris dancing groups herald May Day, and Proust many villages hold a summer Feast Week either before • Willow and rush are still harvested from the river. or after harvest.

Special thanks go to Rob Anderson, John Bannerman, Ian Jackson, Ted Bocking and Charlotte Cassells for kindly supplying photographs.

Further information contact [email protected] 3. Relative wildness:

• The area does not reveal itself; it is hidden because it is largely remote from roads.

• The settlements are on the edges of the area, above flood level. This leaves large stretches of Introduction uninterrupted countryside where the open meadows have a seemingly endless reach to the horizon. Tucked away in Cambridgeshire is a small area, relatively unknown to the wider world (and even to some its inhabitants). But this •The vast areas of lakes are new wilderness, specifically designed for wildlife with very limited ancient landscape is a microcosm of outstanding beauty mixed with human access. exuberant charm, gentle tranquillity and pastoral images. 4. Relative tranquillity:

There is a profusion of extraordinary treasures in very close •The majority of the area enjoys tranquillity, away from the intrusion of traffic noise. proximity, ranging through great flood meadows whose management •A car can only bring the visitors to a few points on the perimeter of the area. Here is unchanged in millennia, a quiet, meandering river with its tangle of they must abandon the car; if they wish to enter, explore and enjoy the area they must be on foot, bicycle, horse or boat. streams and their islands, picturesque villages and market town with a wealth of architectural and cultural heritage, vast tracts of man- •Once within the area the visitor is well catered for with numerous footpaths and bridleways including the long distance Ouse Valley Way and National Cycle route 51. made lakes and reed beds that have become new wildernesses and internationally important wildlife sites, the edge of the expansive fen •Birdsong is everywhere – skylarks, warblers, nightingales in spring and summer, migrating geese and colonies of rooks in autumn are just a few examples. country, and much more. •The quiet slow-moving river with the wind amongst its rushes and reeds embodies the whole area with gentle tranquillity. It is an unusual place with a complex, multi-faceted character. 5. Natural heritage features :

Once you enter The Great Ouse Valley you are in a place apart; there • The lowland hay meadows are characterised by species rich swards containing red fescue, crested dog’s-tail, meadow foxtail, is a clear, compelling sense of somewhere unique, a place to cherish great burnet, meadowsweet, meadow buttercup, sneezewort, and to feel enormously humbled to inherit. yellow-rattle, lady’s bedstraw – and many more.

• At Portholme meadow over two hundred plants recorded; two The Great Ouse Valley is the very best of its kind. rarities are the narrow-leaved dropwort and snakeshead fritillary.

• Other sites in the area record the scarce green winged orchid.

• This area is important for numerous bird species, including the breeding population of corn bunting at Portholme and breeding avocets at Fen Drayton Lakes. Winter attracts northern lapwing, golden plover, wigeon and black tailed godwits.

• Wildlife organisations are encouraging the increase of snipe, redshank, wintering whooper and bewick swans, and breeding bitterns.

• The river is important for eels, spined loach, tommy ruffe, otter and visiting grey seals.

• Detailed surveys for invertebrates are needed, but the area is important for white spotted pinion moth and many dragonfly and damselfly species. How does the Great Ouse meet AONB designation criteria?

1. Landscape quality:

•The river valley is a distinct area with individual characteristics. It is quite different to the claylands with their intensive agriculture which cover much of Cambridgeshire.

•The sequence of great flood meadows in the area is of national importance. One of these – Portholme meadow – is the largest surviving traditionally- Photo courtesy of managed meadow in the UK, with an area of 104 ha Geoff Soden of alluvial flood meadow (7% of the total UK resource). Why an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)? • Smaller fields of pasture and hay meadow are found beyond the flood meadows. 2. Scenic Quality: A group from neighbouring parishes along the Great Ouse has come together Ridge and furrow is found throughout the area.

and enthusiastically discussed the need to protect and enhance this valuable •Overall it is an expansive, mainly low-lying landscape of • Large lakes, formed after gravel extraction, are broad river valley. The meadows are spectacular. area of the Great Ouse. now given over to wildlife sites. Fen Drayton Lakes is planned to create 1200ha of reed bed over the next •But within this openness there is a subtlety and 20 years, and will be of international significance. The area is currently not regarded as a coherent whole. There is only limited variation of scale; gentle , intimate areas are created by

the network of streams, backwaters and lakes. appreciation of the intricate relationship between the landscape and built •There is a surprising amount of woodland ranging from pockets of ancient woodland, to groupings of environment that has evolved through its long history. The landscape is often •The ridges of higher land at Houghton and mature specimen trees around the villages. There are st Hinchingbrooke give containment to the meadows and assumed to ‘take care of itself’, but in the crowded 21 century it faces an traditional beds of osier planting and areas of carr river. (wet woodland) along the river and on its islands. unprecedented amount of pressure.

• The floods make this an ephemeral land. Their waters The emerging Hunts District Council Local Plan transform the meadows into an inland sea, sweeping The benefits of looking at and managing the area holistically are considerable; recognises the area as Strategic Green Space. through without regard for parish or property – an they will ensure enhanced biodiversity, allow recognition of the vulnerable extraordinary sight. areas that require protection, and develop the shared, sympathetic use of the •In spring the meadows become a golden carpet of area by landowners, occupiers and visitors. buttercups.

•Idyllic footpaths travel along the woodland, pasture AONBs are nationally recognised designations. They are an established way of and riverside; The Thicket path is truly glorious – here is managing the very best parts of our natural heritage. There are many criteria ‘old England’. required for designation, but foremost is natural beauty. •Church spires proclaim their villages as they emerge from tree-scapes along the river. It is believed that the Great Ouse landscape fulfils the AONB criteria.

•Through all the seasons the vast skies and open vistas provide an ever changing background. Who needs mountains?

The proposed area runs from Earith in the east to Huntingdon Racecourse in the west, and Little Paxton in the south. It covers circa 17 miles in length and an area of approximately 69 sq km.

Some interesting facts:

•Currently there are about 1300ha of man made lakes in the area. This is expected to increase to over 2000ha of water and reed bed over the next twenty years (Norfolk Broads has a total area of 915ha).

•There are six sites of Special Scientific Interest, two Wildlife Trust reserves and 24 County Wildlife sites. There is a large RSPB reserve at Fen Drayton. The National Trust owns Houghton Mill.

•The built environment boasts over 700 Listed buildings including more than 25 Grade I and II*. Ancient churches, medieval bridges, manor houses and picturesque thatched cottages are part of the historic interest and vernacular charm.

•Whilst no overall figures are collected the area attracts many visitors who are essential to the local economy. For example the NT Car Park in Houghton recorded 100,000 cars in 2011; the Great Ouse Boating Association counts 2400 boats on the river; the two museums in St Ives and Huntingdon each have an average 11,000 visitors a year.

The area is contiguous with the Ouse Washes - a RAMSAR site of international importance for wildlife -which could, over time, be included within this proposed AONB area.