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Skaters' Meadow

Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire reserves
Skaters' Meadow geograph.org.uk 1167391
Skaters' Meadow geograph.org.uk 1167391

Skaters' Meadow is a 2-hectare (4.9-acre) nature reserve in Cambridge. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.The meadow is flower-rich wet grassland. Flora include common spotted orchids, cuckooflowers, meadowsweets, marsh-marigolds and ragged-robins. There are also grass snakes and birds such as blackcaps.There is no access to the site, but it can be viewed from the road called Grantchester Meadows.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Skaters' Meadow (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Skaters' Meadow
Grantchester Meadows cycleway, Cambridge Newnham

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.192 ° E 0.105 °
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Address

Grantchester Meadows cycleway

Grantchester Meadows cycleway
CB3 9JP Cambridge, Newnham
England, United Kingdom
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Skaters' Meadow geograph.org.uk 1167391
Skaters' Meadow geograph.org.uk 1167391
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Grantchester Meadows
Grantchester Meadows

Grantchester Meadows is an open space in Grantchester, to the south of the city of Cambridge. It is part of the broad green flood plain from the pubs in Grantchester to the Ditton Plough, comprising Grantchester Meadows, The Lammas Land, the Backs, Jesus Green, Midsummer Common, and Stourbridge Common.Grantchester Meadows can be reached by walking across Lammas Land by the River Cam, via the Paradise Local Nature Reserve - a boardwalk through a marsh woodland noted for butterbur and as habitat of the musk beetle, along a residential road (also called Grantchester Meadows), to the river and footpath to Grantchester.The meadow features in the poem "Watercolor Of Grantchester Meadows" by Sylvia Plath, and a 1969 song by the British rock band Pink Floyd.As of June 2021, King’s College installed signs which prohibited swimming in the River Cam from Grantchester Meadows. This change was met with controversy. A King's spokesman said: "Sadly it has become increasingly apparent that this not only causes significant problems for the emergency services, but also brings with it a serious risk to life. As such it would be irresponsible for the College to continue to encourage swimming in an area where it is unsafe to do so". Camila Ilsley launched a petition against the closure, criticizing it as a "drastic action" that would "shut down traditions dear to the people of Cambridge, and choke our connection with its beautiful natural surroundings".

Paradise Local Nature Reserve
Paradise Local Nature Reserve

Paradise is a 2.2 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Newnham, a suburb of Cambridge. It is owned and managed by Cambridge City Council.This site on the west bank of the River Cam has marshland and wet woodland with mature willows. Flora include butterbur, and the reserve has the uncommon musk beetle, which lays its eggs in the willows.There is access by a road from the junction of Newnham Road and Barton Road. Today, the name Paradise designates the nature reserve adjoining Owlstone Croft, but formerly it embraced the whole area up to the Lammas Land. There were once tennis courts known as the Paradise Courts on the University Hockey Ground. This hockey ground, located at the junction of Barton Road and Grantchester Street, has since been developed for housing. References to Paradise go back a long way. The earliest mention of bathing in Cambridge records that in 1567 the son of Walter Haddon, while at King's College, was drowned "while washing himself in a Place in the river Cham called Paradise", and William Stukeley, the eighteenth century antiquary, when at Corpus College in 1704 wrote: "I used to frequent, among other lads, the river in Sheep's Green, and learnt to swim in Freshman's and Soph's Pools, as they are called, and sometimes in Paradise, reckoning it a Beneficial Exercise". And it was here, in 1811, that Byron's brilliant friend Matthews became entangled in weeds and was drowned. The larger area now called Owlstone Croft was formerly called Paradise Garden. In 1740 it was taken over by Mr Rowe, who had introduced into Cornwall a system of forcing early vegetables for the London market, and here he produced them in a scientific way. His son Richard became associated with a Dutch bulb grower, outstripped all competitors in the production of beautiful flowers, and invented the hyacinth glass for growing bulbs in water only.