About the reserve

Wildlife highlights:

• In summer: swathes of pink, purple, yellow and white flowers bloom in the meadows.
• In summer: the meadows are alive with the buzz and flutter of pollinating insects.

What makes Bowber Head Farm so special?

This traditional small-holding lies within the picturesque setting of the Westmorland Dales. It has been farmed in its current layout for over 400 years and is home to a series of internationally-important flower-rich hay meadows.

Not only are they beautiful, they are incredibly important as only 900 hectares of these upland hay meadows survive across the counties of northern England today.

The meadows, known locally as ‘herbie’ meadows due to the abundance of flowering herbs such as wood crane’s-bill, greater burnet and lady’s mantles, are scheduled as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  

When Bowber Head Farm was surveyed in the 1980s an astonishing 92 species of plant were recorded.  

Recent history

Bowber Head Farm was owned by the Frankland family for many years. In 2020 it was transferred to Cumbria Wildlife Trust in lieu of Inheritance Tax, as part of the settlement of the estate of Juliet Frankland who died in 2013.