Cameron's Cottage

Cameron’s Legacy: Cameron’s Cottage in the New Forest

Tue, 23 May 2023 15:57:00 GMT

To celebrate the official opening week at Cameron’s Cottage, we are very proud to share this video which shows the result of many years of collaboration between us and the RSPB.

Thank you to everyone who attended various events during the week to help us celebrate this very special moment. This video highlights the huge amount of thought and work that has gone into completing Cameron’s Cottage, nestled in the RSPB Franchises Lodge and will be beneficial to young people for generations to come.

Thank you to Daisy Hubble for making this wonderful video. If you’d like to contact Daisy, please email daisyhubblevideos@gmail.com or via Instagram @daisyhubble videos to discuss commissions.

Cameron's Sustainable Cottage

Thu, 11 May 2023 09:45:00 GMT

Joe Moorhouse of Moorhouse Architecture Ltd will be delivering what is sure to be a fascinating talk on the sustainability credentials of Cameron's Cottage.

The talk will be held Cameron’s Cottage on 16th May at 6pm. This event is free and gives a unique insight into how this off-grid Cottage was renovated and how it will be powered by solar panels. The presentation is a must for anyone interested in sustainability and beautiful architecture.

Thank you RSPB for hosting and Joe for giving this excellent talk. Please book via the link below.

Book Event

University dietetics group visits Cameron’s Cottage

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 09:07:00 GMT

The Winchester University Dietetics group visited Cameron’s Cottage recently for a spot of team building, cooking and getting closer to nature

Cameron's Cottage and RSPB Franchises Lodge nature reserve proved to be the ideal location for the group to enjoy some team building exercises; a blindfold trail communication game and walking on a slack line. They also spent time exploring the reserve listening and looking out for wildlife. The main focus of the trip howerver, was to use the open fire pit to develop menus for future groups to follow.

The group use the fire pit to create menus for future visitors to use

Cameron’s Cottage Spiders

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 13:26:00 GMT

As a part of the amazing ambassador weekend at Cameron's Cottage in the New Forest we did a bioblitz on site.

For the bioblitz we split into two teams and tried to record as many species as we could possibly find. This included plants in the woodland, birds flying overhead, mammals in the long grass, amphibians in the lake and insects in the marsh. It was a truely immersive and captivating activity where we paid attention to every species we could spot and tried to identify each one.

I know there will be many more interesting ecological discoveries at Cameron's Cottage to come

I predominantly have an interest in plants and birds, however I had a lot of fun searching for a wide range of insects and spiders. Despite having little knowledge myself on spider identification we worked together as a team and with the ID charts to identify as many as we could. This included wasp and labyrinth spiders. However, there was two spiders which we couldn't identify exactly and after messaging fellow ambassador and resident spider expert Luke, we discovered we had found a 4-spot orb weaver (Araneus quadratus - top pic) and a nationally scarce Raft spider (Dolomedes fimbriatus - bottom pic)!

A 4-spot orb weaver (Araneus quadratus)

Altogether in the bioblitz my team found over 140 species in under 2 hours. This is an incredible number and also is exciting as it shows the potential rich biodiversity of the site. I know there will be many more interesting ecological discoveries at Cameron's Cottage to come and I hope this continues to inspire the next generation of naturalists with the wonder of nature.

Raft spider (Dolomedes fimbriatus)

Barratt London donates to Cameron's Cottage

Fri, 21 May 2021 15:32:00 GMT

We are delighted to report that Barratt London has donated £1,000 towards Cameron's Cottage as a thank you to our Young Ambassadors, Samuel Levy.

Samuel is a member of the Totteridge Valley Birders and recently collaborated with Barratt London to produce a document about the Valley’s unique wildlife local to the housebuilder’s scheme in Mill Hill. The document is publicly available and can be found in a rewilding box outside the development sales suite for residents who are keen to explore the local area.

“I’m proud to draw the bridge between these two organisations which help encourage the next generation to love and appreciate our animals, nature and our environment.”

Samuel Levy

Pam Reardon, Sales and Marketing Director at Barratt East London, commented, “We are grateful to Samuel and the Totteridge Valley Birders for their help in creating the ‘Guide to Bird Spotting in the Totteridge Valley’. Their knowledge of the wildlife here has been invaluable and we hope our residents have a great time exploring the beautiful surroundings at Ridgeway Views. We are also honoured to be able to support the Cameron Bespolka Trust and their mission to encourage young people to engage with nature.”

Barratt London’s Community Fund sees the housebuilder donate £1,000 per month to a local registered charity or organisation working to improve the quality of life for their communities.

A special thank you to Samuel Levy whose work with Barratt London led to the donation

Cottage Roof Completed

Sat, 25 Jul 2020 11:35:00 GMT

We are thrilled to report that Steve Cuff, who very generously and kindly offered his services, was able to completely water-proof and fix the roof of the cottage.

Thank you to Steve for this fabulous work! He also installed a bat box for the Rhinolophidae bat (commonly known as the horseshoe bat) and one for the Common Pipistrelle bat, giving them places to roost.

We can't wait to proceed with the next phase.

RSPB Youth Council Annual Trip

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 13:22:00 GMT

In September, I was lucky enough to elected as a member of the RSPB Youth Council, then called the Phoenix Forum. This is a group of ten young people from the RSPB who give a voice to the organisation’s youth membership.

It took two hours to drive to the New Forest, where the annual residential trip would be held, specifically at the organisation’s latest nature reserve, RSPB Franchises Lodge.When I arrived, I met Hannah Thomas, who’d led Zoom video conferences with young conservationists on the State of Nature Report 2019. The beautiful woodland was another world, stretching for miles in every direction: with the owners now being the RSPB, it made me feel hopeful for the future of this part of the National Park.

After walking through the dense woodland, we reached the camp, a small clearing in the forest. There, I met Emily Lomax, who leads the Youth Council itself, and RSPB volunteers Anton, Fabian, Rob, Anna, Anneka, and Anneka’s son William. It was also wonderful to meet the other Youth Council members, many of whom I met for the first time: James, Jannis, Jasmijn, Anna, Sennen, Thomas, Rachel and Jess. We did some team building exercises to remember each other’s names, which was fun and very enjoyable. Lunch consisted of some splendid wraps with Moroccan houmous, and everyone sat round a campfire.

The RSPB volunteers gave us an informative history of the site, and then we went to explore it for ourselves. This magical landscape seemed untouched, but as numerous as the trees was the invasive rhododendron. These ornamental plants had spread from someone’s garden, and now enveloped the reserve, poisoning the soil. In the hands of the RSPB, I’m sure the site will be restored to its former glory very soon.

RSPB Franchises Lodge

The forest came to an abrupt halt, at a dirt track leading to a storage area: this was an area with a high concentration of reptiles, which we were to look at an hour later. We walked through another stretch of woodland, before arriving at a massive pond. Anneka explained to us that this is a prime habitat for many Toads to breed, and that it may be designated as an SSSI in the future, protecting the population there. The pond faced a field, which was a habitat for one of the UK’s rarest arachnids, the Wasp Spider. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any, but were greeted by hordes of craneflies. Eventually, we found a toadlet, and an uncommon cricket species. Some of us even saw a Goshawk! We walked back slowly to the storage area, and were rewarded with stunning views of Common Lizards, and even more Toads.

A toadlet

A Common Lizard

We returned to the campfire for dinner, and beforehand, we collected firewood. On the way, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the New Forest, stood Cameron’s Cottage. This made me feel very excited, as when it is complete for the Cameron Bespolka Trust, there will be accommodation and a field studies centre, allowing us to instill a love of nature in local institutions. Dinner was amazing, and a few hours later, the sound of Soprano Pipistrelles filled the air as we did a bat walk. We were also told that Cameron’s Cottage already has one resident; a Greater Horseshoe Bat! After a long day, we all went to our tents and fell asleep.

Cameron's Cottage

The next morning, we woke up early for a session of ‘forest bathing’ by Fabian. We ventured into the vast expanse of woodland, and stood in various areas, meditating peacefully, focusing on different parts of the forest. An hour later, we walked back to the camp, had breakfast and packed away our tents. It started to rain heavily, and our only shelter was the kitchen tent! There, Rachel assigned different roles to us, and we discussed further events in the forum, including a name change to the RSPB Youth Council. When the weather had improved, we experienced the fun task of removing the invasive rhododendron. It had spread severely in some parts of the reserve, and we managed to remove a large amount, which was quite an achievement. After lunch, we explored more of the immense National Park, including the area around the site managers’ cottage- the fields were full of Wasp Spiders! Holding a sub-adult Toad was quite nice too. The cottage grounds were extremely biodiverse.

We collected more firewood, headed back to the reserve entrance and said our goodbyes. This had been a memorable and eye-opening trip, meeting many like-minded young people, and engaging with the work of both the RSPB and the Cameron Bespolka Trust. I’d highly recommend visiting Franchises Lodge, and see the Cottage when it’s ready!

The RSPB Youth Council. Photo: Emily Lomax

Cameron's Cottage Video

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 09:28:00 GMT

Young Ambassador Amy Hall has produced a fabulous video offering a quick look at Cameron’s Cottage before the work begins.

Tucked away, deep in the New Forest, the potential this derelict building has to be transformed into a wonderful centre to experience the natural world is there to see. Drone footage is courtesy of the RSPB and music is from BenSounds. The video features our co-founder Corinne Bespolka and ambassadors Tommy Saunders and Alex Chapman.

Cameron's Cottage on Radio Solent

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 15:26:00 GMT

Earlier this week Corinne met up with Jo Palmer from BBC Radio Solent to talk about Cameron's Cottage

The broadcast gave listeners the chance to hear about Cameron's life and the work being done in his name.

To avoid having to download the SoundCloud App select 'Play in browser'

Later on in the broadcast Radio Solent spoke to RSPB spokesman Tony Whitehead about the cottage and why they teamed up with the Cameron Bespolka Trust for this amazing project.

Jo Palmer from BBC Radio Solent

Cameron's Cottage in the Sunshine

Thu, 02 May 2019 15:15:00 GMT

Cameron’s Cottage in the middle of RSPBs Franchises Lodge reserve in New Forest, surrounded by woodlands and birdsong in the glorious spring sunshine.

In the meantime the RSPB is hard at work with architect and planners. Up-dates to follow.

Read more about the cottage

Dawn Chorus for Cameron at Cameron’s Cottage

Wed, 27 Feb 2019 14:59:00 GMT

This is the first opportunity to see Cameron’s Cottage in the beautiful woodlands at Franchises Lodge, an RSPB Reserve in the New Forest.

Please come and join us and listen to the dawn chorus with Dante Munns from the RSPB who will be our expert guide around the site.

When: Saturday 30th March, at 6.45 am for a 7 am start. The walk will take between 1.30/2 hours followed by breakfast, coffee and tea.

Where: Franchises Lodge RSPB Reserve, New Forest

Telegraph Hill car park,
Roger Penny Way
Hale
Fordingbridge
SP6 2QY

If you are running late or are lost please call Corinne 07810 276411 or Sarah on 07761 933031.

Places are limited to 20 spots only and will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis so please email Sarah to reserve your spot: sarah@cameronbespolka.com. Please provide your contact details and mobile phone numbers.

Photo: PS Achitecture

Architect selected for Cameron's Cottage

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 08:07:00 GMT

We have been very busy these last few months and are delighted that RSPB have appointed an architect, Joe Moorhouse, who shares our vision to renovate Cameron’s Cottage.

We are looking at the endless possibilities to transform this run down, three bedroom cottage into a place where groups of young people can stay in the heart of the 1000 acres RSBP Franchises Lodge Reserve. Not only are we looking to up-date the cottage, we hope to create a field study centre that will be a base for young people to carry out research and other nature related activities.

The sketch below shows an artistic impression of what we are hoping to achieve. Initial discussions with the local planning authority have resulted in some useful feedback the RSPB will be addressing these over the next few months. This includes undertaking ecological and environmental impact assessments, surveys, sustainability reports, together with more detailed design work.

Exciting proposed plans for Cameron’s Cottage

We are confident that by the RSPB carrying out this important research, we will create a base for young people and students where they will enjoy a quality, immersive experience in a truly beautiful, protected reserve in the heart of the New Forest.

Amazing 1000 acres RSPB Reserve, Franchises Lodge, New Forest, Hampshire

We will keep you up-dated with our progress.