Looking north from Woodwalton Fen nature reserve, in Cambridgeshire, visitors get an uninterrupted view of Britain’s flattest landscape. An entire hemisphere of sky hangs over a network of carefully drained fields that stretch to the horizon without a hill or mound in sight. Potatoes and other root crops grow in profusion in the rich, peaty soil.
But change is coming to this quiet corner of fenland – thanks to one of the largest and most ambitious restoration schemes ever launched in Europe: the Great Fen project. Organised by Wildlife Trust conservationists, the project has already cost £10m and its price tag could reach £30m by the time it is completed, they say.
