Community Diary

Search for Lost Medieval Mill - July 2011

Coquetdale Community Archaeology Group will be excavating the a 13^th Century fulling mill at Barrowburn in the upper reaches of the Coquet Valley in July, where evidence of the submerged remains are visible.

The remote location is now home only to the ancient hay meadows of Barrowburn Farm, tea room and holiday accommodation, but experts believe the mill was once operated by local monks taking advantage of the clean waters of the Coquet to prepare cloth near to their herds of sheep.

Timber samples from the site have been tested by experts at the Museum of London who have confirmed they are from the 13th Century.

Volunteers from the group, which is chaired by Chris Butterworth, will learn new techniques of excavating in water to add to the wide range of professional archaeology skills they have acquired since being set up in 2005.

More about Coquetdale Community Archaeology ...

BAAfest 2011

The second annual BAAfest (Bellingham All Accoustic Music Festival) was held in Bellingham on May Bank holiday to great critical acclaim.

Supported by the National Park, it attracted headline acts from across Europe including The Churchfitters and Clive Gregson (one of the world's top 1000 Guitarists, Manchester born but now based in the US) who entertained 350 every afternoon and night in the main marquee.

Of equal importance were the community events held in the Bellingham town hall, and especially the young people’s evening on the Friday night which attracted young performers from the North East region. 2012 dates are now confirmed - Fri 4th, Sat 5th & Sun 6th May.

www.baafest.co.uk

  

Windsor Chairs

Les Welton Windsor Chairs is a new small business enterprise set up by a former forestry worker in Stannersburn near Kielder Water in the North Tyne Valley.  Supported by a National Park Grant to source the timber to start up the business, the owner, Les Welton, already has a growing order book for his chairs which are hand-made individually on request.

Tel:  01434 240340

  

Snowballs and Sunshine for ethnic minority leaders visit

A group of ethnic minority community leaders from Newcastle experienced two strikingly different seasons in the North Tyne valley recently.

The leaders were on a visit to Northumberland National Park from the national Mosaic project, led by the Campaign for National Parks, that trains “community champions” from ethnic minority communities to help familiarise and welcome others in their communities to the English countryside via the National Parks.

The project also aims to encourage people from ethnic minorities to become involved in the future of National Parks.True to its upland nature, the North Tyne provided both snowball-making weather and the brilliant blue skies and warm sunshine of spring in the space of two days. A great weekend was had by guests and hosts at Kielder, Falstone and Bellngham.

More about CNP Mosaic ...

  

Northumberland National Park focuses on making the countryside work for young people

Northumberland National Park Authority has been selected by Changemakers, a national youth charity, to be a Host Organisation for their programme which helps to unleash the leadership potential of 16-25 year olds.

Through a mix of real life placement, peer support, expert input, training, and one to one coaching, a young Changemaker will be recruited to help the National Park to improve the way it listens to, communicates with and involves young people who live in and around it. It can be very difficult to reach the young people who live in rural uplands of the county due to the remoteness and of the area, poor broadband and public transport

Margaret Anderson, a Ranger based at Once Brewed National Park Centre on Hadrian’s Wall, will support the young “Changemaker” throughout the six-month programme.

  

Herding Hill farm shop and cafe is open for visitors - March 2011

Steve and Anne Dunwell have taken over Herding Hill Farm shop and cafe which is situated on the Haltwhistle Road near Cawfields Quarry on Hadrian's Wall. They are offering a warm welcome to visitors from Saturday, March 5, 2011 with a wide range of high quality local produce and refreshments.

Cawfields Quarry offers a picturesque short and easy walk to Roman Milecastle 42 on Hadrian's Wall.

You can download a self-guided Rangers' Favourite Walk around Hadrian's Wall and Cawfields from this website ...

Rangers' Favourite Walk - Hadrian's Wall and the Military Road

  

Fresh Coffee at Brocolitia - March 2011

Brocolitia is the site of a Roman temple dedicated to Mithras which is in remarkably good condition.

It is free to visit and just a short, easy walk from the car park where fresh, hot coffee is available every day.