Nature trail sign by the boardwalk with windpump in background — Follow the trail to Wicken Fen | © National Trust Images / Justin Minns

Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen boardwalk trail

Take a short walk around the boardwalk at Wicken's ancient Sedge Fen, a unique remnant of undrained fenland, and you could spot hen harriers in winter, rare fen flowers in spring and summer, and amazing fenland sunsets year-round.

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Total steps: 5

Start point

Wicken Fen visitor centre, Lode Lane, Wicken, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 5XP. Grid ref: TL563705.

Step 1

Starting from the visitor centre, turn right onto the boardwalk trail, heading towards the windpump.

Three birdwatchers with binoculars and a tripod silhouetted against a deep orange sunset at Wicken Fen, Cambs — Birdwatching at sunset at Wicken Fen, Cambs | © National Trust/Nick Palmer

Step 2

Follow the boardwalk in the direction of the windpump. Before the advent of steam and diesel pumping engines, windpumps were the main method used to drain turf pits and fields.

Wooden windpump

This wooden windpump was originally located near Harrison's Drove on the edge of Adventurers' Fen, and was one of six used to drain the turf pits in the latter part of the 19th century, where it was used to drain peat workings. It was moved here in 1956, and restored in the 1960s. Lord Fairhaven of nearby Anglesey Abbey paid for much of the restoration. Today it is the last working wooden windpump in the fens.

Reeds and windpump beyond at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire — Reeds and windpump beyond at Wicken Fen | © National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

Step 3

From the windpump continue on the boardwalk and then turn left through the carr (a wet woodland of mainly willow and alder, the name deriving from the old Norse 'kjarr', meaning a swamp), and then eventually crossing the vast open expanse of Sedge Fen.

Step 4

Take a moment to pop into the Boardwalk Hide, up the path to your right. From here you can look out over sedge fields, cut every four years, as well as beyond towards Verrall's Fen in the distance. There is lots of information in the hide about the different habitats at the Fen. As you continue on the Boardwalk, you cross over one of the many ditches on the Sedge Fen. Look out for the top of the Tower Hide visible in the distance over the sedge fields to your right. It is thatched with sedge.

Step 5

When you get to the lode bank, you can turn right to look out across Wicken Lode's junction with Monk's Lode. You can sense that the Sedge Fen where you are is on higher ground than the land on the other side of the lodes, where drainage has resulted in the peat shrinking. Turn to the left to follow the boardwalk back to the visitor centre. In summer when the summer nature trail is open (red dashed path on the map) you can turn right along the grass path to visit the Tower Hide. (The grass path and the Tower Hide are not accessible.) Alternatively, turn left to follow the boardwalk back to the Visitor Centre.

End point

Wicken Fen visitor centre, Lode Lane, Wicken, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 5XP. Grid ref: TL563705.

Trail map

Wicken Fen Nature Reserve near Wicken Rose Cottage, Cambridgeshire

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Wicken Fen Adventurers' Trail

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Lode Lane, Wicken, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 5XP

01353720274

wickenfen@nationaltrust.org.uk

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