The Helm, Oxenholme, nr Kendal

Friends of the Lake District bought part of the eastern side of the Helm, above Oxenholme (the area in white, left) in 2007, to open up to public access and improve the landscape for nature conservation.

Size: 33.6 ha (82.97 acres)
Grid Reference: SD 533890.
Landscape: Prominent hill, with pasture land and some woodland

Download The Helm Walks leaflet here

Latest news at The Helm:

Download the Helm Update 09

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An important local landmark and place of local recreation, our land at the Helm consists of two fields – the main one is open pasture with a small tarn. The field next to this has more trees in it and is steeper with a small crag.

The main pasture is the only part of the Helm not included as Open Access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Our main reason for buying this land was to be able to secure public access and to ensure this in the long term.

In character, our land is quite different to the common on the western side, which is what most people enjoyed. One of the best places to get a view of the main pasture is near the Iron Age Hillfort, which occupies the highest ground on the ridge. From there if you look north, you can see right down across the eastern side, which runs down to a narrow lane, in a series of slopes. Gorse covers the lower slopes, providing a great splash of colour, as well as creating habitat for birds and also many rabbits!

Gorse in bloom	Hawthorn

There are scattered trees, in particular hawthorn, with some lovely mature specimens.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of this side of the Helm is the small tarn and stream. The presence of water obviously adds more nature conservation interest, as well as adding an extra elements landscape wise.

The main pasture has always been grazed and we will continue with this to keep the land in good order. We have changed the amount and level of grazing, with no livestock on the land from approximately mid April to mid August. This gives the flowers a chance to bloom and set seed and in the summer of 2007, we saw the Helm become a different place. Grasses grew long and patches of harebells and yarrow blossomed.

Each year we will work with our grazier on the stocking levels. This is kept to just less than 100 sheep, plus 15 cows, as they eat different plants and the larger hooves of the cows create bare patches for seeds to set in.