Manor Cottages boosts ‘Cotswolds Visitor Giving Scheme’

Manor Cottages boosts ‘Cotswolds Visitor Giving Scheme’ allowing Cotswold River Trust and World Land Trust to continue preserving Cotswolds Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The Cotswolds Visitor Giving Scheme was created by the Cotswolds Conservation Board with the aim to raise funds for the preservation and maintenance of Cotswolds’ Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The funds were collected through voluntary donations from visitors within the tourism sector, and those donations were then offered as grants to various different environmental and landscape projects across the Cotswolds area.

Manor Cottages was the first tourism company in the Cotswolds to participate in the scheme, which was launched last year. Within the first few months customers of Manor Cottages had donated £502.00 through the simple £1 support scheme* when booking a holiday cottage in the Cotswold region. To support the scheme further Burford based company Manor Cottages decided to match the amount donated, creating a grand total of £1,004.

This donation, which Manor Cottages hope to be the first of many, allows the Cotswolds Visitor Giving Scheme to offer a grant to both the Cotswold River Trust and The World Land Trust respectively. Cotswold River Trust used the donation to install flow deflectors in the River Coln at Winson near Bibury. These deflectors are important tools to preserve the renowned Cotswold brown trout as well as other fish. They help vary the depth of the river bed which enables different plants to continue to grow and provide habitat for the other organisms in the River Coln.

For the second scheme, The World Land Trust used the grant award at the Kites Hill Nature Reserve near Painswick Beacon, where they carried out coppicing work which maintains and manages the woodland area and encourages new growth at the reserve, which again provides habitat for the unique birds and insects that frequent the Cotswold area. Alongside this development, four interpretation boards have also been installed along the woodland trail as part of a project to educate visitors about the importance of the reserve.

Hearing about the excellent work that the Cotswolds Visitor Giving Scheme enabled, Chris Grimes from Manor Cottages said: “It is excellent news to hear that funds which have been raised through our customers are already being put to such good use and helping to look after these special places in the Cotswolds AONB.”

Trevor Cramphorn of the Cotswolds Rivers Trust said: “This has been an important piece of river habitat restoration work that we haven’t been able to do until now. We are hugely grateful to the Conservation Board for their help and the generosity of all the businesses which are part of this very worthwhile scheme.”

The Cotswolds is the second largest protected landscape in England and represents a huge 10% of the total Areas Of Natural Beauty in the United Kingdom and it is important to protect that status. The donation that Manor Cottages provided goes a long way to preserving the beauty and growth of such a stunning and natural area.

Manor Cottages are a locally based, family business who specialize in Holiday Cottages and Self Catering Accommodation across the Cotswolds. With over 270 holiday properties, they are the largest supplier across the region and generated over 30,000 visitors to the Cotswolds in 2013.

http://www.manorcottages.co.uk

*Customers can choose to opt in or out of donating the £1 when booking their holiday property.