Cache Need To Know
To solve this multi cache you first need to visit an information board at the watercress beds, the given co-ordinates are your starting point for the information needed to get the real co-ordinates. At the information board you will see that the Trout Ponds were built in the 1960's. Carry on from here up the High Street to your next waypoint for the 2nd piece of information. You will reach the Village Hall where there is a display of pottery plaques, on the far left there is a plaque of sunflowers, how many sunflowers are there? This is B and gives you the final co-ordinates for the cache.
On your way to the cache you will pass Kings Pool, an ideal place to take a seat and ponder the antics of past Kings and Queens and watch the local water fowl at home.
Once you have the cache in hand carry on up the slope and bear left to your next cache EW08.
All the other info about the walk in general is in EW01 Ewelme - Walk Intro
The cache can be found at N 51.36.991 W001.04.B85 you are looking for a small container
Don't Need To Know But Might Be Of Interest
Any visitor to Ewelme could not fail to notice the watercress beds, formed from part of Ewelme Brook and fed from Kings Pool, they dominate pretty much the length of the High Street. Although they are an established feature in Ewelme they are a relatively modern addition that Alice De La Pole wouldn’t recognise from her Ewelme.
The watercress beds came about in the late 1800’s when the village watermill burnt down and the land was sold to a George Smith who set about an ambitious project to dig out watercress beds.
For nearly almost a century the thriving watercress business provided a welcome income to local families. However during the late 1900’s the local water quality wasn’t as good as it had been and failed to meet European standards, this along with stiff competition in the market place led to the closure of the business in 1988 and the beds became derelict.
It is fortunate for Ewelme that a local charity bought up the watercress beds and with aid from volunteers have restored them to some sort of former glory, the watercress beds now form a Local Nature Reserve with a variety of habitats and attract a many types of wildlife within the protected habitat of approx 6.5 acres. Including the once common Water Vole and some 7 species of birds currently on the at risk Red List.
Unfortunately although the water quality seems to be quite agreeable to the local wildlife sales of watercress are still currently prohibited, which seems rather a shame as it would be a great source of income to further the aims of the Nature Reserve.