Balancing farming, conservation & education
Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s (CWT) headquarters and education centre are located at Bickley Hall Farm in south Cheshire near the village of Malpas. The 210-acre farm provides children with a fantastic opportunity to experience both farm and wildlife, from May to October only. The farm hosts a variety of different habitats and exciting wildlife, which are accessible and excellent for educational use, including great crested newts, dragonflies, damselflies, badgers, foxes, barn owls, swallows and harvest mice, and variety of stunning wildflowers and amazing minibeasts. The farm keeps a rare breed of Longhorn cattle, as well as Dexter cattle and Hebridean sheep, and grows grasses and crops for livestock fodder.

The farm, leased from the Cholmondeley Estate, is managed with conservation in mind. The land is in Defra’s Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme, which seeks to deliver significant environmental benefits in high priority situations and areas. Conservation work at the farm includes:
• re-establishing wildflower and traditional hay meadows
• leaving field margins uncultivated to provide wildlife habitats
• restoring traditional wildlife-friendly hedgerows
• managing ponds traditionally
• replanting an orchard with old Cheshire apple and pear varieties
• planting spring cereals to provide winter stubble for birds to feed on
• creating wet meadows with scrapes for birds such as lapwing and snipe
• sowing a wild bird seed mix on plots around the farm.

There are seven ponds on site, some of which are suitable for safe pond dipping sessions.

Hedges and wild field margins provide excellent habitats for minibeast hunting.

We also have wildlife rich ditches, an orchard and arable fields, which support many wildflowers and arable farmland birds.

The wildlife garden here at Bickley Hall Farm encompasses a range of wildlife friendly garden methods and our organic vegetable patch demonstrates small scale organic food production, which children can come and learn about.

One of the farms outbuildings has been newly converted to be suitable for indoor education activities with toilets and hand washing facilities available.