North Wessex Downs Walking Festival – Chalk grassland restoration in the Goring Gap

The Goring Gap is where the Thames River cuts through the ridge of chalk as the Chilterns and North Wessex Downs National Landscapes meet. We will take in the stunning views and learn about the amazing natural heritage of this chalk landscape, hopefully catching the flitting butterflies that thrive on the flower-rich grassland.

The walk passes through National Trust land, moving on to the National Ridgeway Trail and a visit to Rectory Farm. During the walk, we will see grassland that should be rich in a wide variety of plants, but has fallen into a degraded state as farming and recreational pressures have changed. We’ll compare this with thriving flower-rich grasslands and land in restoration. At Rectory Farm, we will meet Charles McCulloch who manages this family owned farm, and learn how two landowners are restoring the chalk grassland here using new machinery and techniques to harvest and re-sow the seed.

Help us to look for flowers like kidney vetch, common rock-rose, greater knapweed, small scabious, carline thistle, mouse-ear, using guides that we will provide. We will then walk back up the hill to finish at the car park.

The walk will be led by Ruth who is the Programme Manager for Mend the Gap – a programme that aims to enhance the areas of the Chilterns and North Wessex Downs National Landscapes that have been negatively impacted by the electrification of the Great Western Railway.

Please bring waterproofs and stout closed-toe shoes for this walk. We encourage you to bring a sun hat and protection if it is hot as the downland is quite exposed in places. This walk will be on grass footpaths with a short distance on Rectory Road – a single track road. The paths on the grassland are steep down hill and then again up hill. If you would like to know more about the route, email Ruth: rstaplesrolfe@chilternsaonb.org.

Walk leader/organisation: Ruth Staples-Rolfe, Mend the Gap, Chilterns and North Wessex Downs National Landscapes

To book and for further information – click here