Society summer visit

We are delighted to announce for our Society summer visit we have been invited to visit the Bollin Valley Partnership in Macclesfield, Cheshire. 

The Bollin Valley Partnership has been working for 40 years providing a Countryside Management Service within the catchment of the River Bollin.  The River Bollin is 49km in length running from the hills surrounding Macclesfield Forest to where it joins the Manchester Ship Canal at Bollin Point near Lymm in Cheshire. The Partnership manages sites across the valley as well as the Bollin Valley Way which approximately follows the River Bollin from Riverside Park in Macclesfield to the River Mersey near Partington and aims to provide an efficient and cost effective countryside management service for the Bollin Valley, improve the Valley's natural environment and its recreational opportunities.  To achieve these aims they provide a Countryside Ranger service and encourage public use of the valley whilst taking part in conservation and enhancement of the natural environment.  The Longhorn cattle form an integral part of this management.
 
The herd was founded in 1988 and currently stands at around 80 animals.  These animals graze a range of habitats along the course of the River Bollin, from Tegg's Nose 1200ft up in the Peak District above Macclesfield to the flood plain at Riverside Park in Macclesfield itself.  These areas are fully accessible to the public so steers and heifers are grazed in these areas, and then calving cows running with the bulls graze land that is either not open to the public, or the footpaths run adjacent to the fields. 

Manager Tim Harding has kindly invited the Society to visit the herd on Sunday 21 August. All are welcome, just let me know by Friday 12 August so we can plan catering and logistics. Further infomation about about location and timings will be available nearer the time