New nature centre opens at Langford Lakes
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust has expanded the visitor site there
Last updated 22nd Nov 2022
The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust has more than doubled the size of the Brockbank nature centre at the Langford nature reserve.
The new centre, which is close to Salisbury, sees the additions of a café and space for and art gallery and private functions.
The Kingfisher Café extends out over one of the lakes which means visitors can watch the nature at the reserve from the café.
Head of business development and community engagement Wiltshire wildlife trust, Damien Haasjes, hopes the new centre will make nature more accessible. He said:
“Part of the reason about why we have things like a café on our site is because it brings in a whole new range of people who would not normally come to a wildlife reserve.
“We’ve had the otters out playing in the lake this week. So people have come and had experiences they would have never thought about by being up close and seeing nature in the wild”.
He added: “The point for us is everything we do reinforces the work of the Wildlife Trust. And the more people we can, if they come here for a coffee but walk away starting to feel a little bit more love for nature then we’ve done our job”.
The wetlands at Langford Lakes are home to a diverse range of wildlife, including otters and around 150 species of birds.
Damien hopes that the introduction of the new nature centre will bring more financial security to the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.
“I think increasingly diversification of income is important for every charity in the UK. At the moment. I think money's tight for everybody.
“It means that we're also generating our own income, and that means that we can be flexible and it means that we're much more sustainable."