Our new Visitor Centre is shaping up!

Building works are coming along both on the ground and across the River Nene at the Rushden Lakes development in Northamptonshire

Much progress is being made at the Rushden Lakes development, and we are very pleased to announce that the Visitor Centre is starting to resemble an actual building - July can't come soon enough!

The structure is now weathertight and the internal partitions are up. At the moment the buildling looks, feels and smells very 'woodsy', although the ceiling rafters will be soon be covered up by plaster board. We expect this natural ambience to remain when the Centre is complete, thanks to the presence of a cosy cafe as well as plenty of nature-related activities and displays.

One very exciting feature is that the building has a living roof - we're not yet able to climb up and take a look. Construction will soon begin on our Tool Storage building, which is where the sizeable amount of equipment needed to care for such a huge nature reserve will be kept.

Inside the Visitor Centre as it's being built

Photo by Caroline Fitton

The Nene Wetlands Visitor Centre in winter 2016 against a bright blue sky from across the lake

Photo by Caroline Fitton

A view across the bridge — Photo by Caroline Fitton

The bridge over the River Nene that links two sections of Rushden Lakes is finished - subject to review by a structural engineer.

With the bridge complete, visitors will be able to cycle or walk all the way from the tip of Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows all the way to Ditchford Lakes and Meadows - with plenty of wildlife to see along the way.

Millions of people will visit Rushden Lakes when it opens next year; The Trust will run school visits, family days and training workshops, as well as many other kinds of public engagement with nature. We'll be able to engage hundreds of new volunteers ranging from wildlife surveyors to Wildlife Watch leaders.

But first we have to finish putting a ceiling in the Visitor Centre!