THE old Meeth Clay Works quarry is to be turned into a wildlife reserve by Devon Wildlife Trust.

The trust has bought the site, which extends to some 370 acres, including the two major former quarries which have been flooded and turned into lakes.

Ball clay was worked at the site from the 1920s by the Meeth Clay Company, but the working of clay stopped there in 2004.

Following the closure a programme of restoration was undertaken by site owners Imerys, which included a full ecological monitoring programme.

Devon Wildlife Trust will continue to restore the site over the next two years.

Harry Barton, chief executive of Devon Wildlife Trust, said: 'I am absolutely thrilled that we are in a position to take on this exciting site. This is largely thanks to Viridor Credits Environmental Company and generous individual donors.

'Over the next two years we will be working hard to develop the site as a nature reserve, which we hope people from across Devon and beyond will be able to enjoy.'

John Kinsey, director at Jones Lang LaSalle, who advised Imerys on the sale, said: 'Meeth Clay Works is a special place and the area of land with the lakes forms an incredible part of this rural area.

'It is exceptionally pleasing as the sale has been concluded with the Devon Wildlife Trust who will retain the land in its present format.'

The clay works was first marketed in May 2012 and formally put to interested parties on a best bid situation.

The property was sold for an undisclosed sum but was marketed at an asking price of offers in excess of £550,000.

The announcement of the purchase is the latest move by Devon Wildlife Trust to turn quarries in the area into wildlife habitats.

In 2012, the trust announced plans to increase the range and number of wildflowers at the Sourton Quarry nature reserve through an intense programme of scrub removal and woodland thinning.

For more details of the Devon Wildlife Trust, visit http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org">www.devonwildlifetrust.org