At the Gault Day today, I was interested to hear from Mark Nokkert – pictured here with his exhibition stand – about the Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership Scheme.  Mark, from the Netherlands, is the programme manager for this project, which aims to increase understanding of the local washlands, promote the area as a visitor destination, involve local communities in maintaining the landscape, and provide training in conservation and heritage.

Like many people, I hadn’t really thought much about the Ouse washes as a single piece of landscape with a shared potential, but this scheme includes the whole area from Downham Market down the Old Bedford and New Bedford Rivers through Sutton as far as the RSPB nature reserves at Fen Drayton and Needingworth.  Cambridgeshire ACRE has received an initial grant of just over £90,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to start the project off, and a further sum of nearly £1M has been earmarked to put the scheme into effect.  There are 23 key partners ranging from local councils and voluntary groups to national charities, with 60 more organisations and individuals on the partnership forum.

There are opportunities to get involved, and the project is on Twitter at @ousewasheslp.