£3m to preserve area's landscapes

The Wyre Forest was once a Royal hunting ground

More than £3m is being spent on helping to preserve and restore two of the region's most breathtaking landscapes.

At least £1.8m is being given to the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, a large surviving area of ancient woodland, by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Another £1.4m is going to Cheshire's Sandstone Ridge, a beauty spot which has existed since Neolithic times.

A lottery spokesman said the money would help communities to protect habitats and local environments.

The Wyre Forest has been used in the past as a chase, a Royal hunting forest and producer of charcoal and bark for the leather industry. It also has a history of coal mining, fruit growing and farming.

If the 280 fragmented fruit orchards are revived it would help conserve the 1, 200 species of butterflies and moths which can be found there.

Cheshire's Sandstone Ridge has seen it being used for agricultural and industrial purposes.

Its pits of silt and clay are now ponds and wetlands, supporting a range of mosses and wildlife.