Woodwalton Fen

Woodwalton Fen is a 208-hectare (500-acre) National Nature Reserve near Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire - one of only four remaining fragments of the ancient wild fens that once covered the area. It is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Ramsar wetland of international importance and a Special Area of Conservation. The reserve is owned by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire and managed by Natural England.

Families can explore peaceful paths through reedbeds and around open meres, with several waymarked trails including the Discovery Trail, Waterbirds Trail, Marsh Harrier Trail and Bungalow Trail. Wildlife highlights include marsh harriers gliding over the reedbeds, kingfishers along the dykes, water voles, Chinese water deer and long-eared owls. The reserve supports more than 900 recorded moth and butterfly species, over 1,000 beetle species and more than 400 wildflower species, including the rare fen violet and fen woodrush, which grows nowhere else in the country.

The historic Rothschild Bungalow, built in 1911 by banker and conservation pioneer Charles Rothschild (who bought the fen in 1910), still stands at the heart of the reserve and can be visited.

Entry is free. There is roadside parking alongside the Great Raveley Drain close to the reserve entrance (not suitable for coaches). Access is from Chapel Road in Ramsey Heights village, west of Ramsey. Buses run from Peterborough to Ramsey Heights and from Huntingdon to Ramsey. Dogs are not permitted on the reserve. Note: paths may close in winter when water levels are high - please follow on-site diversions; the access track surface was reported uneven (December 2025).