One of our Sheffield Lakeland Landscape Partnership projects is to improve the path surface in Birks Wood, Oughtibridge.
This small, ancient woodland has an informal circular signed route for walkers to follow. However, at times, it could be very muddy and difficult for people to negotiate their way around the woods.
Working with professional trail builders Bike Track, we have been building a weather resistant surface using locally quarried sandstone, on the wettest areas of the path, helping to improve access for visitors to the woodland.
You can see a great comparison of the path before and after the work has been carried out using this slider image link.
What’s next?
We do still have a more work to do on the path surface, which will take place in the next few weeks or months once ground conditions in the woodland have dried out a little, enabling us to transport materials around the site again.
To finish off this project, we’ll be creating a pond on a waterlogged area near the entrance to the woods and also building a pond dipping platform which local people and schools can use to help them learn more about pond life.
How has the work been funded?
The work in Birks Wood forms one of our Sheffield Lakeland Landscape Partnership projects, which is a £3.4m package of partnership projects conserving and celebrating the natural, built and cultural heritage of north-west Sheffield. It is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of its national landscape partnerships programme. The partnership has been made possible by a grant of £2.6m from the National Lottery Heritage fund, with matched funding from partners.