FIVE YEARS ago, Heyford Meadows were strewn with old tractors, rusting railway wagons and broken boats.

But thanks to the work Oxford Preservation Trust, the 11-acre site alongside the River Thames has been transformed into Oxfordshire’s latest wildlife haven.

The flood meadow, at Sandford-on-Thames, was left to the trust in 2006 by the landowner, John Tate, a longtime trust supporter.

Now, following a £50,000 restoration, Heyford Meadow Nature Park has been opened to the public for the first time.

Yesterday OPT director Debbie Dance pledged the area would be protected forever.

Ms Dance said: “It has taken us a few years to raise the money and we have been working on the land for 18 months.

“It is two huge fields, 11 acres of land, and it has got trails, ponds, boardwalks and interpretation boards.

“It is open to everybody, forever.

“People can just come and enjoy it. Because it’s in our ownership it is protected forever.”

The land, off Heyford Hill Lane, had been partly used as a scrapyard, and trust members have cleared 250 tonnes of rubbish from the area, including tractors, railway wagons and six boats.

In addition, trust volunteers have planted up hedgerows to increase habitat diversity, created three ponds, installed raised boardwalks to allow permanent access to wetter parts of the site and restored a viewing platform on the water's edge.

Officially opening the nature park – which is the trust's first – Ms Dance said it was ironic so much had been done to enhance the wetland habitat only for it to be opened during one of the driest springs on record.

As well as thanking Mr Tate, she also praised the Challis family for its help.

She said: “He also left his property to Oxford University. He was a good supporter of Oxford.

“He did it because he wanted the land to be kept as land, to be looked after and not built on in the future.”

Ms Dance thanked the Four Pillars Hotel Group, the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment and the Waste Recycling Group and Pond Conservation, for helping fund the project.

Oxford Preservation Trust now owns more than 900 acres of land in and around Oxford.