It’s hard to believe when you see it in all its glory, but Brockholes hasn’t always been just the way it is now. In fact, the Visitor Village was only opened eight years ago, on Easter Sunday, 2011.
In 1992, the Trust first contested the quarrying of the site at Brockholes, but this went ahead, until 2006 when the Lancashire Wildlife Trust were given four weeks to raise £50,000 to buy the Brockholes site and protect it from development.
Thanks to donations from Wildlife Trust members, and an investment of £800,000 from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) under the Newlands scheme, Lancashire Wildlife Trust made its biggest purchase to date, and Brockholes became part of its catalogue.
In July 2007, a competition was launched by The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to come up with a design for the Visitor Centre at Brockholes. Adam Khan Architects was selected for its inspirational design concept entitled A Floating World.
Designed as a cluster of buildings constructed largely of wood and other sustainable materials, it resembles an ancient marshland village. This then became the UK’s first floating Visitor Village.
From then, development started on the 250-acre nature reserve to conserve the best possible habitat for a wide range of species which we now see in abundance.
Brockholes is always growing and the journey is ever continuing. Each year we are seeing new species and more wildlife is returning to make its home here.
We can’t wait to see where the journey will take us next!