On this day in Wembury — 1 February 2007

Field Magazine reported that the National Trust had opened to the public a stretch of Devon coastline that had been hidden from view since 1940. The land was the former HMS Cambridge naval gunnery training school at Wembury Point, where the Trust had raised £1.4 million to buy the 56-hectare estate from the Ministry of Defence. The purchase was made to safeguard the site from the pressure of suburban expansion from Plymouth and to restore it as part of the local landscape. Over the previous year, the Trust had removed the old naval buildings, carried out landscaping, and created new paths to allow public access. Wembury Point lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and offers views of the Great Mewstone, an important haven for cliff-nesting seabirds.

(Source: Field Magazine, 1 February 2007)