Letcombe Valley

It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), with the assistance of the Friends of Letcombe Valley.

[1] The reserve was part of a manor formerly known as Benhams, which was purchased in 1851 by a racehorse owner called Thomas Parr.

After the Second World War, the manor became a centre for scientific research, which was acquired in 1985 by a chemical company, Dow Elanco.

The company created a nature reserve on land next to Letcombe Brook, and when the research centre closed in 2002 the main part of the site was developed for housing.

Wildlife includes water voles and fish such as bullhead, brown trout and the primitive brook lamprey.