Harston Landscape Character Types (as identified by GCLP Landscape Character Assessment )
Lowland Village Chalklands: a low lying, but gently rolling arable landscape through the south and east of Greater Cambridge. It is dissected by small streams and has a distinctive pattern of nucleated villages and patchwork of woodlands and shelterbelts.
Lowland Village Farmlands: a well settled, low lying landscape that covers a large part of Greater Cambridge; extending from the north, around the west of Cambridge and through the south of the Study Area. The high density of settlement, intensive agriculture and major transport infrastructure contribute to an often busy, rural landscape.
Valley Meadowlands: flat, low lying valley floors that extend through the landscape south of Cambridge. The Valley Meadowlands support pastoral land use, associated with notable watercourses/rivers. They are generally unsettled, with occasional areas of Carr woodland and gravel extraction lakes or ancient meres.
A selection of important views within our landscape were contributed by local residents/working group using the landscape guidance example sheet shown and were displayed at the 8th May 2023 Coronation Day event on the Rec and at the Annual General Parish meeting on 25th May. The questionnaire results, vision and early objectives were also displayed.
The displays shown are below:
A later call was made for volunteers to help carry out a landscape character & biodiversity survey and 15 volunteers were divided into 5 groups in July 2023 to look at different parts of the parish. After a brief explanatory workshop, a standard form was used to look at factors which influenced and informed landscape character, including physical influences such as geology, soils, topography, hydrology and human influences such as land use, vegetation cover and field patterns, as well as views which considered perceptions, scale, enclosure, tranquillity, etc. Interactive landscape character workshops followed for more volunteers/members of Harston NPWG, held in September and November 2023, led by the landscape architect, Alison Farmer, to discuss how to draw together the evidence to robustly identify and describe what mattered and why, to produce the final Harston Landscape Character Appraisal report which can be see by clicking here.
Local landowners and farm tenants were contacted about the possibility of improving the footpath network to give greater access to the wider landscape and to give links to a proposed new nature reserve on the abandoned Gravel pits. Cambridge, Peterborough & Bedfordshire Wildlife Trust were also consulted with a field visit to look at the possibilities for the proposed nature reserve at the abandoned Button End Gravel Pits.