Wicken Fen now available on Google Street View

A collection of iconic castles, country houses and outstanding landscapes from the UK have been added to Google Street View, available through Google Maps.

Wicken Fen is one of 20 National Trust properties and landscapes which can be explored online, giving people around the world the chance to plan a visit or catch a glimpse of places they might otherwise never see.

This is the first time a large number of visitor attractions have been added to Street View UK in one go. The images give a 360 degree ground level tour of the outside of the National Trust sites via a specially created online tour at http://www.maps.google.co.uk/streetview 

Other locations include some iconic sites such as Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire and Lindisfarne Castle in Northumberland.

The images were taken late last summer using the Google Trike - a three wheeled bike with a Street View camera mounted on it, perfectly suited to collecting images in places not easily accessible by car.

It's estimated that the cyclists covered 125 miles on the 18 stone (114.3kg) Trike, moving at an average speed of two miles per hour, whilst collecting the National Trust images.

Since then, the images have been processed and carefully stitched together by Google to give a seamless 360 degree view of the various buildings, parts of their grounds and landscapes where accessible and on a route designed in conjunction with the Trust.

Chris Soans, property manager at Wicken Fen said:

"Google Street View will enable even more people to take a peek and get a sense of what Wicken Fen has to offer.
"It's fantastic to think that people from around the world, who might never be able to travel to the UK, to see our world renowned nature reserve will be able to enjoy a virtual visit."

Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist from Google said from Google said:

"Places like Wicken Fen offer all of us a special glimpse of the history, nature and architecture up and down the country.
"We were delighted to be able to open up some of the UK's most famous landmarks to the rest of the world, via the web.
"It's a fun way to gen up on what to see and do on a day out or whet your appetite for where to go next."

The Google Trike will collect images at several other National Trust properties in 2010, including the Giant's Causeway world heritage site, currently the focus of a major £2.25million fundraising campaign. These locations will be available later in the year.

To take a virtual tour visit www.maps.google.co.uk/streetview and click on the National Trust logo towards the bottom of the page.

Ends

For further information, please contact Howard Cooper, Wicken Fen Communications Officer on 01353 720274 mobile 07826 874133 email howard.cooper@nationaltrust.org.uk, or Jeannette Heard, National Trust central office press officer on 01793 817706 or email jeannette.heard@nationaltrust.org.uk  or Laura Scott, communications and public affairs manager, Google on 0207 031 3049 or email laurascott@google.com.

Editors notes

The full list of National Trust properties available to view via Google Street View is:

South West
Avebury Stones, nr Marlborough, Wiltshire
Castle Drogo, nr Exeter, Devon
Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset
Glendurgan Garden, nr Falmouth, Cornwall
Stonehenge landscape, Amesbury, Wiltshire

South East
Ham House, Richmond-upon-Thames
Nymans Gardens, nr Haywards Heath, West Sussex
Stowe Landscape Gardens, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire

West Midlands
Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire
Berrington Hall, nr Leominster, Herefordshire

East Midlands
Clumber Park, Worksop, Nottinghamshire

East of England
Wicken Fen, Wicken, Ely, Cambridgeshire

North East
Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, Ripon, North Yorkshire
Lindisfarne Castle, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland
Malham Tarn Estate, Waterhouses, Settle, North Yorkshire

North West
Lyme Park, Disley, Stockport, Cheshire
Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Wales
Plas Newydd, Llanfairpwll, Anglesey

Northern Ireland
Mount Stewart House, Gardens and Temple of the Winds, Newtownards, County Down
Downhill Demesne and Hezlett House, Castlerock, County Londonderry

About the National Trust
The National Trust cares for over 300 of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's greatest historic houses and gardens, 1,100 km of coastline and vast swathes of beautiful countryside. From former workers' cottages to the most iconic stately homes, and from mines and mills to theatres and inns, the stories of people and their heritage are at the heart of everything it does. People of all ages - individuals, schools and communities - get involved each year with projects, events and working holidays and over 56,000 volunteers help to bring the properties alive for the Trust's 3.7 million members and many more million visitors.

About Google Street View