Relief as much as excitement was the feeling in the office when we found out we have been successful in our application to the Heritage Lottery Fund to purchase and restore Eycott Hill. 

We've been working on the project for quite sometime. Esmée Fairbairn bought Eycott Hill for us when it came up for auction and we have been working hard (well our fundraisers have, less so me!) to raise the money to pay them back. Our members have been very generous and along with funding from Wren, Cumbria Waste Management Environment Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation we had enough money to match the Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

What this money means to us is that we can not only purchase the site, which is a wonderful area with a mixture of mire, woodland and meadow but we can employ two people to restore it and make it better for visitors.

We'll be advertising those posts this week, so if you are interested, or know anyone else who is, then check out the job pages on our website.

Charlotte Rowley
Cumbria Wildlife Trust's Senior Marketing Officer