One of the longest-running environmental campaigns in the UK, the National Trust's ‘Neptune’ coastline appeal, has joined the digital age with a brand new website dedicated to their work and ownership on the coast.

Web appeal

The website went live just as the Trust launches a new appeal to raise money to help buy 1km of the Llyn peninsula in north west Wales, their most significant coastline campaign in the last five years.

Money raised will help improve access to the coast and create a new coastal centre of excellence for this beautiful stretch of Welsh coastline rich in wildlife.

Inappropriate development

Neptune was launched in 1965 after research showed that significant sections of the coasts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland were at risk of inappropriate development, and that they could only be saved for the nation if acquired by the Trust.

In the last 45 years the campaign has raised more than £50 million, helping the Trust to acquire over 700 miles of coastline.

Iconic sites

Iconic sites which have been bought with money raised through Neptune include Orford Ness in Suffolk, Formby in Lancashire, Wembury Point in Devon and the Black Beaches of Durham.

Catherine Weaver, National Trust Special Appeals Manager, said: "The website tells the story of Neptune - through the voices of the people who live and breathe the coast - and why it matters as much today, with the challenges of coastal change and improving access, as it did when it was founded in the 1960s."

The Trust now owns 710 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including one third of the south west coast of England. Back in 1895 the first ever piece of land they acquired was a coastal site near to Barmouth in north Wales.