BURNTHWAITE FARM

WASDALE HEAD

THE FARM

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

VISITORS

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES

Fogmire and Lingmell Becks cross the farm. Fogmire Beck
is noted for its breeding salmon and sea trout; Lingmell
Beck is distinctive for its invertebrate population.

The farm includes part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest - Scafell Pike.

GEOLOGY

The Geology is Lake District Ordovician (almost 450 million years old) of the Lower Borrowdale Volcanic Group, with small areas of granite. Valley bottom soils are typical glacial drifts; very stony, well drained loamy, occasionally hummocky.

FAUNA

Burnthwaite Farm fauna is typical for a traditional fell farm in the centre of the Lake District; this is a habitat for deer, buzzard, and peregrine falcon.

FLORA

The Flora of Scafell Pike is important for its montane and sub-montane heath (montane=mountain).

ARCHAEOLOGY

There is a rich archaeological herita ge of 89 sites and
monuments (sheepfolds, bields and shelters, water channels, trackways and boundaries) which has been conserved by Burnthwaite Farm over the centuries.

DRY STONE WALLS

A collection of field walls and consumption walls (clearance of fields by creating walls and piles of excess stone) - is world famous. Andrew Race, the farmer, spends 50 days a year
mending gaps.

VERNACULAR BUILDINGS & FEATURES

The L-shaped range of barns is unique to Wasdale and was built in the first half of the 19th century.

INCOME AND PAYMENTS

Income for Burnthwaite Farm is mainly derived from tourism (50%) with 12% from livestock sales, and the remainder from agricultural-environmental schemes to allow Andrew and Gillian, with the backing of the National Trust, to manage this special environment. Burnthwaite Farm is in an Environmentally Sensitive Area.