Bedford School’s conservation reserve: Ickwell is located nine miles southeast of Bedford and is available for hire by schools and interested youth and community groups. With extensive grounds, including a large lake and woodland and a field study centre, the site provides a diverse setting for a range of outdoor activities.
About Ickwell Conservation Reserve
Ickwell Conservation Reserve is designated a Historic Park by Natural England and a recognised county wildlife site, with nine hectares of lakes, streams, meadows and woodland.
The on-site field centre includes one large and four smaller teaching rooms, an equipment store with fieldwork equipment, along with two workshops. A large area of deciduous woodland crisscrossed by paths, a lake, a conservation meadow, plus two other areas of meadows (the largest allows for camping and games and has a campfire area) and an interesting octagonal dovecote and a thatched bee house are all found on the reserve.
Location
The reserve is just a 25-minute drive from the centre of Bedford and easy to find just off the A603 in the village of Ickwell.
On Offer at Ickwell
- Tree planting
- Tree seed collecting
- Ecology investigations
- Meadow quadrat surveys
- Coppicing
- Avian surveying
- DofE Bronze award
- Forest school projects
- Carbon surveying
