Latest news with #naturereserve
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Bennerley Viaduct visitor centre should open by autumn
A £1.1m visitor centre being built at a historic viaduct on the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border should be open this Autumn, volunteers behind the scheme have Viaduct on the River Erewash has a new visitor centre under construction as well as an accessible ramp and nature complete the visitor centre will include exhibition and educational spaces, a cafe, outdoor seating and bicycle an exact date for opening is "impossible" to set, Friends of Bennerley Viaduct chair Nick Tooley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the group is "hoping" it will be open to visitors in October. He said: "Bear with us, this project has lasted longer than it should have, there have been some technical issues we are hopefully getting around now. "We think we're on the final run and we do desperately hope we will have it open, with the help of the council, this October."He added the group had assembled a lot of archive material about the centre is at the eastern end of the 60ft (20m) tall viaduct, a Grade II* listed bridge which stretches nearly a quarter of a mile (430m) over the River Erewash between Ilkeston and Awsworth. It is known as the Iron said: "We've been speaking to people who remember going over the viaduct when it was open in the '60s, on holiday, on the trains."It actually means an awful lot to a lot of people." 'A lasting tribute' The Victorian viaduct reopened to the public as a walkway and cycle path in 2022 after being closed for 54 Borough Council leader Milan Radulovic said he hoped the visitor centre would help attract tourists to the said: "The wealth we enjoy and the standard of living were built on the backs of working-class people, and this area has a proud heritage of mining, steel work, and industrial work."This will be a lasting tribute and memorial to the sacrifices that they made for the freedoms and benefits we enjoy today."
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
This under-visited Italian lake has all the charm of Como at half the price
With over two million visitors descending on the shores of Lake Como every year, you'd be hard pushed to believe that less than a 30 minutes drive from its shores lies one of the region's best-kept secrets. Also known as Lago Ceresio in Italian, Lake Lugano is predominantly located in Switzerland. However, its northeastern branch stretches onto Italian soil into two valleys – the Valsolda and the Val d'Intelvi – both of which fall under the province of Como. Cut off from mass tourism This Italian slice of the lake was a popular tourist destination in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when a railway line connected Porlezza, the lake's main town, to Menaggio on Lake Como. Visitors arriving by rail to Lugano would enjoy a leisurely steamboat ride to Porlezza, and from there travel on to Lake Como by train. The railway ceased to operate following the Second World War, effectively cutting off tourist transport links between the two lakes. These days, you can cycle along the former railway line, passing the Lago di Piano, a nature reserve that serves as an important breeding ground for water birds. The panorama is strikingly similar to that of nearby Lake Como – craggy slopes carpeted in greenery plunge into the waters on the lake's southern flank, while on the northern shore, a sprinkling of hamlets dot the hillside, connected by a web of mulattiere – ancient trading routes that linked the lakeshore to the surrounding villages. These days, the paths serve as hiking trails, and walking them is the best way to get a feel for the area. Uncrowded lakeside attractions This is Lake Como as it once was, long before the rich and famous began snapping up its grand lakeside villas. Lake Lugano's properties may not be as imposing as those on Lake Como, but they are more resonant of the people who once occupied the area. Most famous is Villa Fogazzaro Roi, an exquisite palazzo that was the former summer residence of 19th-century Italian novelist Antonio Fogazzaro. It has a tranquil lakefront setting in the small village of Oria, less than a five-minute drive from the Swiss border. Its bijou terraces are perfumed by sweet osmanthus blossom in July and September to release a sweet smell that has become the fragrance of the house. Visits to the Villa are by private tour only, with guides bringing the area to life by reading quotes from Piccolo Mondo Antico, Fogazzaro's most famous work, set on the lake. The interiors are beautifully preserved, every nook left as requested by Marquis Roi, Fogazzaro's great grandson who inherited the villa – the library with its neatly lined tomes; the tableware in the dining room; the writer's desk, engraved with annotations, including a poignant note following the death of his son Mariano. The real beauty is that you'll likely have the whole place to yourself. Villa Fogazzaro Roi has about 13,000 visitors a year; Villa del Balbianello on nearby Lake Como, meanwhile, sees the same number of tourists in just over 10 days – so many, in fact, that the villa has been forced to limit visitor numbers. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Osteria La Lanterna (@ Nearby at Osteria La Lanterna, owner and chef Pamela prepares authentic dishes following her grandmother's recipes. Her father, a local butcher, taught her the art of preparing Bruna Alpina, a breed of alpine cattle known for its flavoursome meat. On the menu, you'll find the likes of gnocchi with Valsolda goat's cheese ricotta, and Pamela's take on a pizza fritta (fried pizza), deep-fried nettle flour fritters stuffed with burrata cheese. Cut-price costs The average cost at a five-star hotel on Lake Como is now upwards of €1,000 in low season. By comparison, on Lake Lugano, prices are much more digestible. At ARIA Retreat, rates for a suite – affording delightful lake views that easily rival those on Lake Como – cost half the price. It's a sleek spot immersed in secluded subtropical grounds on the southern slope of Mount Bronzone, complete with an adults-only spa, with a glass-fronted panoramic sauna and an indoor/outdoor swimming pool. Guests also have access to all the facilities of sister property Parco San Marco, which spreads out on the hillside below. Facilities for families are excellent, with three kids' clubs, a private beach, two playgrounds, an indoor swimming pool, and two outdoor pools. A hub of local creativity Above the lakeside addresses, on a verdant plateau where meadows stretch out to the east, sits the small hamlet of Castello Valsolda, its white houses fanning out in a semicircle on a striking cliffside location. It's a web of alleyways, cobbled stairways and narrow porches where life seems to have stood still. For a hamlet of this size – only 64 people call it their home – it has a surprisingly rich artistic and cultural heritage. Its church, San Martino, has been dubbed 'the little Sistine Chapel', with its vault adorned with intricate frescoes by Baroque painter Paolo Pagani, born here in 1655. Painters continue to leave their mark on the region. In the small village of Claino con Osteno, artists were recently called to adorn the facades of buildings with scenes inspired by local life (a gaggle of geese and a cat leaning out of a window to a seamstress hard at work) – a project designed to attract more tourists to the village. From Claino con Osteno, a road snakes inland through the mountainous Val d'Intelvi to reach the Balcone d'Italia, a panoramic viewpoint that offers superlative views over the lake and Campione d'Italia, an Italian exclave which also falls within the province of Como, yet is surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino. Home to some 2,000 residents, Campione d'Italia is mostly renowned for its casino, although it's also home to one of the area's most delightful churches, Santa Maria dei Ghirli. Essentials ARIA Retreat & Spa (0039 0344 629 899) has doubles from €650 (£550) per night, including breakfast. British Airways flies from London Heathrow to Milan Malpensa from £92 return.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Highworth golf course new homes plan would be 'catastrophe'
A plan for hundreds of homes on a former golf course has been called a potential "catastrophe" by a campaign Borough Council (SBC) will discuss three options on 4 June for the old Highworth Golf Course; a nature reserve, 400 homes with a reserve or 700 homes with some said officers are recommending the larger homes scheme as it will provide more cash for taxpayers and more affordable against the scheme say surveys show the council-owned land is a haven for wildlife and is used by about 500 people a day. The council has said the 700 homes scheme would leave 46% of the site left as parkland for the public. Any decision from councillors will not be the final one, as officers would then have to carry out pre-application spokesman Rob New said "It would be a catastrophe if this green, open accessible land was built on."Nearly 5,000 residents signed a petition opposing that, and around 500 people use this valued space every day."He claims the council wants to "cash in" by selling part of the site for housing."The site is a haven for nature with over 300 species of flora and fauna having been identified there," added Mr New. Councillor Kevin Small, SBC's cabinet member for finance, said: "It is almost a year since we asked officers to carry out a detailed options appraisal of the former golf course and we've taken our time because this is an important decision on a popular borough-owned asset."He said SBC has consulted with the town council and community to consider the nature reserve Small added that while he understood the 700-home scheme was "unpopular", it was important to make the most of the land due to the authority's "extremely challenging position".The site, which has been owned by different councils since the 1970s, stopped being a golf course in 2019.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
The ancient Foxley Wood reserve in North Norfolk is to expand
A conservation charity has acquired 100 acres of ancient woodland to expand an existing nature Norfolk Wildlife Trust said that the new land would increase the size of its reserve at Foxley Wood, in North Norfolk, by more than a of the woodland are known to have been there for 6,000 years, and it has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its value for Collin, an area manager for the trust, said they intended to use the expanded area to create a "mosaic of habitats". The Wildlife Trust said that the purchase of the land next to their existing reserve was made possible by several said that the most significant of these had come from legacies left to the trust by Graham Churchyard and Adrian Gunson, Adrian's widow, is a "wildlife guardian" for the said she was "very happy to release Adrian's legacy to help with this purchase", because they had "always loved Norfolk, and its rich and varied wildlife". Foxley Wood is Norfolk's largest area of ancient well as using the expanded area to increase visitor access, the trust said it also hoped to create new habitats for rare plant Collin, from the trust, explained that the wildlife they hoped the resulting plants would encourage included "butterflies such as purple emperor and silver washed fritillary and birds including tree creepers and nuthatches"."We will create new and eco-friendly ways for people to enjoy some of Norfolk's most special wild places," he said.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- BBC News
Trees felled without permission at Drayton nature reserve
Several trees at a nature reserve have been felled without permission, police have believe the beech trees on Drayton Green Lane in Drayton, near Norwich, were felled on the evening of Tuesday, 6 force said it was treating the incident as criminal damage and urged anyone who may have seen suspicious activity after 19:00 BST to get in area around the trees has been cordoned off until it can be cleared. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
