August 27, 2025
National Trust celebrates 60 years of coast project company Neptune

National Trust celebrates 60 years of coast project company Neptune

Wembury Point has a colorful story. During the 20th century it was transformed from a farm into a busy holiday camp and then converted into a military radar station and a shootout from the Royal Navy.

But the past 20 years have been a little gentler because it has returned to nature, a port for rare flora and fauna and an extremely popular place for hikers, wild swimmers and rock pools.

The place on the south coast of Devon is one of the highlights of Enterprise Neptune, a campaign that was launched by the National Trust exactly 60 years ago to protect and improve the coasts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

On Thursday, when the Charity Conservation Charity celebrated the Diamond anniversary of the Neptune campaign, she recently unveiled that it was even more coastal lines than previously thought.

A survey, which was “enlarged” in bays and inputs, showed that the trust takes over 896 miles coast, more than previously assumed, which corresponded to more than 10% of the coast of the three countries.

The trust said that since Neptun’s start in 1965 more than £ 114 million had collected to protect places that range from the white cliffs from Dover in Kent to stretches that once go beyond redemption, such as. B. beaches full of coal waste in northeast English.

On the day the guard Wembury Point visited, there were sightings of the rare Cirl Bunting. Linnets whizzed around and Skylarks rose at the top. A female adder was rolled up in the sunshine.

Rich Snow, the manager of the country of the National Trust Countryside at South Devon, took a tour of the fields of wild flowers on an artificial sports field when the Ministry of Defense had the country.

He pointed out that the bird-foot cloverleaf between Oxeye geese flower and purple spines from Broomrape, a parasitic herbaceous plant. “I’ve never seen so many of them,” he said. “You went bananas this year.”

Snow looked from the point to the east and said that the charity organization had almost the entire coast that could be seen, as well as country strips directly in the interior. “It means that we can manage the country on a scale,” he said.

Wembury Point is a popular place for artists: JMW Turner was one of those who painted the big Mewstone, an island that is half a mile away from the point. It is also loved by visitors and locals who donated £ 1.2 million so that it can be bought in 2005. It is just a 20-minute drive from Plymouth city center, which makes it a popular hiking and picnic spot.

“People were concerned that it would be sold to developers,” said Snow. “It was so touching that the locals came and donated, some only coins or a five. It meant so much.”

Snow protected the landscape from developing and increasing nature and said that a central goal was to further expand access. There are plans to build miles more paths, only in the interior and in the snow a signal station of the early 19th century would like to convert into a Bothy. “The point is that the coast should be accessible to everyone,” he said.

Enterprise Neptune began in May 1965 after John Whittow, a geographical lecturer, led a group of students and teachers to a survey to the entire coast of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. With limited technology, the students hiked around the jagged coast, carefully camped in tents and mapping.

Whittow, now 95, recommended that the Trust, 900 miles coastline. So it is a decent coincidence that the new mapping has determined that the trust is only four miles shy.

“I am overjoyed that I have lived long enough to see that,” said Whittow to The Guardian. “Our goal was to ensure that the public had sustainable access to the coast and research the maritime culture of our island station while the sea environment was protected.”

Hilary Mcgrady, General Director of the National Trust, said that the threats to the coast like rising sea levels and more extreme weather events would have been necessary than ever.

She said the campaign was a partnership between the charity and the people who supported it. “Because of this joint endeavor, we can all access freely and enjoy the white cliffs from Dover, the inserts of Cornwall and the coast of North Antrim and our Pembrokeshire Landes. It is difficult to imagine what our coast would look like without Neptune.”

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