New national nature reserve created in area that inspired Dickens

NORTH KENT WOODS AND DOWNS STRETCHES FROM SHORNE COUNTRY PARK TO WROTHAM WATER

- By REBECCA SPEARE-COLE PA sustainability reporter

A KENT landscape of ancient woodlands, wildflower meadows and chalk grasslands that inspired novelist Charles Dickens has been made a national nature reserve.

Natural England, which advises the Government on the environment, has announced the creation of the North Kent Woods and Downs national nature reserve.

This means the 800-acre landscape, which stretches from Shorne Woods Country Park to Wrotham Water, has been marked out as an area of focus for conservation and nature restoration efforts.

The mosaic of different habitats is home to species including Man and Lady orchids, the Maidstone mining bee, Hazel dormouse and skylarks, around 1,700 ancient and vet-eran trees, and the Silverhand Estate one of the UK's largest organic vineyards.