The Solway Wetlands Centre

There is so much to discover at the Solway Wetlands Centre, in the heart of the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

It is located at the RSPB’s Campfield Marsh Reserve, which is a natural mosaic of many different environments, from saltmarsh and peatbogs to farmland and wet grasslands. It’s home to a wide range of wildlife, with ducks and geese spending their winters there, and breeding wading birds and dragonflies through the spring and summer.

It is also one of the largest peat bogs in the UK and you can follow trails from the centre out into the heart of the nature reserve. Keep your feet dry by following a boardwalk across Bowness Common from the Solway Wetlands Centre

The Centre itself is an ideal place to start your wetlands adventure. There is an exhibition of the flora and fauna you may see here, maps to help you plan your visit, and plenty of leaflets for you to take away as you journey around the Solway Coast.

You can also explore a clay dabbin building, created using a traditional method once found all over the Solway Plains. It uses local clay and grit, mixed with straw, around and oak frame and topped with a heather roof. Buildings like this were found in other parts of Britain but the Solway Plain is one of the only areas in the country where clay dabbin buildings still survive in number. 

The Wetlands Centre itself is inside a 19^th-century barn, part of the original North Plains Farm, which was carefully restored using traditional and environmentally-friendly building techniques. They included hempcrete plastering, made from natural plants and lime, along with sheep’s wool insulation.