A BLUE Plaque will today be unveiled at Hill End outdoor education centre near Oxford to honour its founder.

Philanthropist Raymond ffennell not only created Hill End in 1926, he also gifted Wytham Woods to Oxford University in 1942.

Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board described him as a "man of vision ahead of his time" and said his gift was arguably the largest gift to the university since the middle ages.

Board secretary Eda Forbes said: "These are huge and lasting legacies to education and research as well as preserving the beauty of the natural environment.

"He passionately believed that children should experience and understand the natural environment and conceived the idea of an outdoor education centre."

Mr ffennel, who was born in 1871, purchased the Wytham Abbey estate in 1920 and lived there with his wife Hope and their daughter Hazel.

He conceived the idea for an outdoor education centre shortly after and founded it on open countryside between the family home and Farmoor.

From 1926 schools were invited to come for day visits so that children could go on nature-walks, play and enjoy picnics.

In the 1930s buildings were converted for school use and eventually a number of large dormitories were built, with cooking facilities and showers.

Mrs Forbes said: "Raymond, Hope and Hazel ffennell participated in the activities and were popular with the children.

"Hazel, a life-enhancing personality, loved animals and once introduced her pet meerkat and chameleon to King George V."

Hazel's parents were devastated by her early death in 1939 at the age of 33.

Raymond ffennell gifted Wytham Woods to Oxford University shortly before his death in 1944 in her memory, and the woods are still known by locals as the Woods of Hazel.

Raymond and Hope required the university to preserve and maintain the great natural beauty of the woodlands and use them for the instruction and research for which they are now world-renowned.

The outdoor centre was run by Oxford City Council until 1974, then taken over by Oxfordshire County Council which this year agreed to hand over the lease to a charitable organisation, as it no longer had the funds to run the facility which welcomes 9,000 visitors each year.

Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board will today honour Mr ffennel's contribution to environmental education by unveiling a plaque honouring him, his wife, and their daughter Hazel, at 11am.