Richmondshire Landscape Trust is celebrating 20 years of protecting and enhancing the area's natural beauty.

To mark the milestone, the trust is inviting the community to a celebratory coffee morning at Richmond Town Hall on Saturday, November 9 from 9.30am.

The event is open to all, and offers a chance to learn more about the trust’s achievements.

Admission to the event is £1.50, which includes tea or coffee and biscuits. Attendees can enjoy a tombola, home baking stall, and raffle, as well as a photographic display by trustee Kerry Dinsdale.

Some of these photographs will be available for purchase to support the trust’s work. At 11am, a short presentation will highlight the trust’s recent achievements and future plans, followed by the cutting of a special anniversary cake.

The Richmondshire Landscape Trust was established in 2004 when it took over the management of 88 acres of land to the south and west of Richmond, previously owned by Richmondshire District Council. The land, which includes the five original parcels of Westfields; Nine Acre Field; Jack King’s Wood; Sleegill and South Bank, and the more recently acquired Whitefields area, now amounts to nearly 100 acres and is preserved as public open space and dedicated to increasing biodiversity and providing secure wildlife habitats.

Supported by residents, the trust raised £120,000 over four years to purchase the land, reaching the target in 2008.

Since then, the trust has carried out extensive conservation efforts, including restoration and conservation work such as repairing and rebuilding drystone walls, renewing boundary fences, and planting trees, hedgerows, and wildflower meadows. Other work has involved the restoration of historic features, including two medieval monastic fishponds and heritage drainage restoration, for which the Trust won a conservation award, and the acquisition of Whitefields, a section of land that includes part of the historic Scots Dyke, a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

One of the trust’s wildflower meadows at the Nine Acre Field was recognized as a Flagship Meadow by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, and the trust has provided seeds from this meadow to support similar conservation efforts in Richmondshire and the Yorkshire Dales.

For more information about the trust and its work, see www.richmondshirelandscapetrust.org.