Local people making their corner of rural Britain unique
This week
SaturdayÌý30 June 2007
In this week’s Open Country, Helen Mark explores the landslips of The Undercliffs National Nature Reserve between Axmouth and Lyme Regis on the Devon Dorset Border.
ÌýOn Christmas Eve in 1839, a 700-yard long block of land sank 150 feet in 36 hours, so that the fields which had been at the top of the cliffÌýlay intact at the bottom of a huge chasm. The farms' loss was the area's gain with the creation of the . Volunteer WardenÌý Donald Campbell shows Helen why this was the backdrop for the novel and film versions of "The French Leiutenant's Woman."
When the chasm was formed the block of land on the seaward side, now known as , did not move. It now stands as high as the inland cliffs and as botanist David Allen explains it is now a species-rich chalk grassland, home to some very special orchids and gentians.
Click Listen Again to hear these and more tales from the Undercliffs in Dorset.
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