Must Farm and Tourism

Most of you will know how important Must Farm was as an archeological project; recognised around the world as a highly significant site. When I spoke to Frances Pryor, the renowned archeologist, about Must Farm, he told me that it was changing the way people thought about the Bronze Age. All this was found in Whittlesey.

If you aren't aware of Must Farm, you can find out more here.

There was a move a few years ago to try and get a Must Farm visitor centre in Whittlesey which sadly came to nothing. The situation now is that, despite the fact that all this material was found in our Town, we have absolutely nothing in Whittlesey that tells the story of Must Farm and absolutely none of the finds on display anywhere. I find this totally unacceptable.

Sadly many of our current Councillors don't share my view - it is a good example of the complacency oat Fenland District Council. This will always be a priority for me. I will never stop making the case for Must Farm to be remembered permanently in our Town, including with a display of some of the finds.

I still believe that there is a lot of missed opportunity for tourism in Whittlesey. The Straw Bear Festival is, of course, a great event and we have amazing fishing in the area, but we can build on this through the proposed new reservoir that is coming. We can be confident that Anglian Water will make tourism a priority - it's what they do at both Grafham and Rutland. Fenland's role should be to make sure that there are excellent cycle links from Whittlesey to the reservoir as well as links through our waterways (I personally believe they should have made that a requirement for their co-operation). That way Whittlesey can become a weekend visitor destination. I would also be asking Anglian Water to make the reservoir a coarse and pike fishing location rather than focusing on fly fishing because that fits in with the majority of fishing elsewhere in the area.