Ordnance Survey – Great Britain's national mapping agency

New Forest celebrates National Parks Week

03 August 2007

The New Forest National Park has organised a packed schedule of events to celebrate Britain's National Parks Week.

This year the theme of the week is ‘nature's natural playground’.

Jim Mitchell, Interpretation Officer at the New Forest National Park Authority, said: ‘We're very excited to offer this packed programme of events during National Parks Week that will get people exploring and learning about the New Forest.

‘Hopefully, our events will have something that will appeal to everyone.’

Events coming up include the salt marsh, Solent and shingle walk, taking place this Sunday.

Environment expert Steve Trotter will be leading an exploration of the park’s coastal area on a free four-mile walk. Participants will get the chance to find out more about plants and wildlife around Hurst Spit and investigate how climate change may affect the coastline.

Mr Trotter explained: ‘The shingle spit is a great venue to talk about the power of the sea and how our coast creates and erodes habitats.’

• Night-time bat walks
  Wildlife enthusiasts in Scotland will soon be able to take part in a series of night-time walks to learn all about bats.
• Investigating Dartmoor’s cultural heritage
  This month visitors to Dartmoor will be able to get involved in a number of special events to celebrate the area’s cultural heritage.
• English museums get cash boost
  Some 43 English museums are to receive around £4 million of funding, the culture minister announced today.