Local farmer Frank Hunter and Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s Claire Cornish are inviting people to come and visit the Coronation Meadows at the hill farm, Piper Hole in Ravenstonedale, which opens for just one special day each year in summertime.

People are being welcomed at the farm on Saturday 11 July between 10.30am and 4.30pm and can follow a self-guided walk at their own pace through the Site of Special Scientific meadows, giving walkers time to admire the scenery and to get up close and personal with the meadow flowers. Guided walks with the farmer will take place at 11.00am, 1.00pm and 3.00pm where people will learn about how the meadows are traditionally managed for winter fodder and their species-rich swards. He will also explain how he has recently diversified the farm business.

Walk maps will be available from the gazebo at Piper Hole on the day if visitors would like to make the day a stop off point on a longer walk through Ravenstonedale and its special meadows. This takes in a higher altitude route which includes Green Bell, part of the Howgill Fells, and then drops to return back through other traditionally managed flower-rich meadows in the valley.

Piper Hole is at Ravenstonedale and can be found using the postcode CA17 4NN or map grid reference NY 7253 0305. The Hunter’s will be providing refreshments on the day and goat’s milk soap made at the farm will be for sale.

Coronation Meadows are outstanding examples of flower-rich grasslands, surviving fragments that support our wildlife and which are often the result of years of careful management by generations of one family. Many have an annual hay cut and are grazed by hardy, native breeds of livestock. Coronation Meadows is a joint project between The Wildlife Trusts, Plantlife and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and is funded by Biffa Award.