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Location: Cuxton, Medway, KentOS: TQ 716673What Three Words location: ///hood.pull.drives
Habitat: Chalk grassland, arable fields and ancient woodland
Our Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve is in Medway, Kent.
If you’re visiting by rail, the closest stations are at Cuxton, Strood and Rochester (visit National Rail for more information). There are also several local bus services, details of which can be found at Kent public transport or by calling Traveline on 0870 608 2608.
If you are travelling by car, the main entrance and car park are accessible directly from the A228 shortly before the roundabout (when approaching the M2 from Cuxton).
We are celebrating 20 years of Ranscombe this summer with a full programme of events. Scroll down to find out more and come and celebrate with us!
Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage.
Ranscombe Connect, including the following events, is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we can deliver this project for the benefit of Ranscombe Farm’s nature and its local communities.
What is the National Plant Monitoring Scheme, why was it developed and how does it work. Join us at Plantlife's flagship nature reserve, Ranscombe Farm to learn more.
Join us for a walk and a tour of a farm with our tenant farmer at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve to learn all about regenerative farming.
Join us for a relaxed, supportive morning run as part of our 20th anniversary celebration week at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve.
Join us and for a gentle guided walk through beautiful surroundings, using just your phone to capture nature in new ways. This event is being held as part of our 20th anniversary celebration week at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve.
Join us to help find and count some of Ranscombe's rare plants as part of our 20th anniversary celebration week at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve.
Join us for this fun outdoor family session combining a nature scavenger hunt, creative mobile making, and exciting bug hunting. This event is being held as part of our 20th anniversary celebration week at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve.
Join us to see one of the UK's best collections of ancient and veteran trees at Cobham Wood. This event is being held as part of our 20th anniversary celebration week at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve.
Join us for this guided forest bathing experience as part of our 20th anniversary celebration week at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve.
Ranscombe is our flagship nature reserve – famed for its fantastic display of arable flowers!
Did you know that this year, we are celebrating 20 years of Ranscombe! We’re so proud of the work that we have achieved alongside all of our incredible partners and volunteers to keep nature thriving in this amazing habitat.
To mark the moment, we’re hosting events throughout June to celebrate and we would love for you to join us! Head to the events section below to find out more, or visit our What’s On page to see what we have on throughout the year.
Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve is Plantlife’s flagship reserve. It’s an incredible place for a number of reasons, from being an Important Plant Area for its arable flowers, to forming an integral part of the North Kent Woods and Downs National Nature Reserve.
Ranscombe Farm joined the National Nature Reserve in 2025. It’s an exciting venture which unites our beautiful site with ancient woodlands, vineyards and other chalk grasslands in earning national status for being one of the very best nature conservation sites in England.
Ben Sweeney, Ranscombe Farm Reserve Manager said: “It is truly exciting that Ranscombe Farm, Plantlife’s flagship nature reserve, is now part of such a concerted effort to bring together conservation, community and sustainable land use at the landscape scale. Ranscombe Farm, a wonderful patchwork of arable fields, ancient woodland and chalk grasslands, is a globally significant place for wild plants and other wildlife. Not only is Ranscombe the last wild UK site for Corncockle, it also harbours the largest population of the endangered Broad-leaved Cudweed and a wide variety of rare wild orchids.”
Our reserve is also believed to be the last remaining natural site in the UK for Corncockle and is home to the largest UK populations of Broad-leaved Cudweed Filago pyramidata. The first record in Britain of Meadow Clary Salvia pratensis and Marsh Mallow Althaea officinalis were here too, which is an amazing piece of history to be part of. It really is an arable flower haven!
Sessile Oak Quercus petraea and Hornbeam Carpinus betulus grow in the Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa coppice. This woodland has existed here since at least AD 1600 and is an important wildlife corridor in North Kent.
Covering more than 560 acres, Ranscombe is a mosaic of habitats! It is made up of chalk grassland, arable fields and woodland. The chalk grassland is full of Common Rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium, Clustered Bellflower Campanula glomerata and Wild Liquorice alongside other wildlife such as Skylarks, Common Blue and Marbled White butterflies.
A large part of the site is within the Cobham Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the whole farm is within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Ranscombe Farm is managed in partnership with Medway Council as a nature reserve, working farm and country park. You are welcome to visit at any time, but please keep to the marked footpaths.
We are excited to have joined a wide partnership of organisations in launching the North Kent Woods and Downs National Nature Reserve.
Ranscombe Farm will sit in the new National Nature Reserve (NNR) which unites a mosaic of ancient woodlands, vineyards and chalk grasslands in a historic environment where people have lived and farmed for millennia.
The North Kent Woods and Downs National Nature Reserve has earned national status because it is one of the very best nature conservation sites in England.
This groundbreaking NNR, full of internationally important wildlife, is the first of its kind to be made up of such a wide partnership of private landowners and public land managers, it is also the first to be partnership led.
We are also undertaking exciting work at the reserve:
All these important work are made possible thanks to the support our members gave to this year’s nature reserves appeal and an additional grant of over £60,000 from the Veolia Environmental trust.
Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve
Corncockle at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve
Poppies at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve
Ranscombe in the snow
Snow covered trees in mid-winter
Poppies at Ranscombe Farm, Ben Sweeney, Plantlife
Close up of a Fly Orchid
The reserves team on a visit to Ranscombe Farm
Delve further into the secrets of Ranscombe Farm Reserve with our family expedition walk map
This education pack is designed to help teachers use Ranscombe Farm Reserve for learning outside the classroom.
24 Plantlife
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