Day One

Nearly Wild Camping is a new organisation, set up to create new opportunities for people to camp in wilder places than traditional campsites. It is a membership co-operative, where campers and location owners are equal members. The purpose is to provide a small income to the landowner as a ‘thank you’ (as a minimum) for hosting wilder camping experiences (though some owners are starting to provide wilder camping as a market niche and gaining good rates). The owners often gain new volunteers to help their work, sales for countryside products or experiences, and /or provide an informal fun learning opportunity for the campers to learn more about the countryside.

In the session the covered the background to the organisation and its ethos; the set up period; early lessons; how we are trying to work with the market for social and environmental goals and how the organisation functions. They took participants through the pros and cons for both campers and camp location owners. Finally they discussed some of our exciting emerging future plans, building on the successful recruitment of their first overseas location! (more…)

The briefing explored in detail about the practicalities of embarking on the Life Cycles and Landscapes project and a recent trip that was made to the Netherlands to meet the Dutch festival partners Oerol. Activate approached Oerol to work with them because they have been working with artists in the landscape for over 25 Years, both in performing arts and more recently installation/visual arts, and they are now deeply embedded in the stewardship of their island of Terschelling. As a result of their artistic activity, they now produce the environmental audit for the island’s council.

Dorset AONB, the Norfolk Coast Partnership AONB and Activate Performing Arts shared  their experience of embarking on a partnership project focussed on art in the landscape and their work with artists And Now, and being inspired by Inside Out Dorset and Oerol Festivals. (more…)

View the video of Kristen Lambert, Somerset AONBs’ Nature and Wellbeing Officer sharing an overview of the briefing session.

The briefing gave an outline of the project and how the project leader has been working in partnership with Public Health in Somerset alongside the 3 AONB Partnerships (Quantock, Mendip and Blackdown Hills). This included an overview from year one of the project as well as a few case studies.

During the briefing, feedback sessions with the group about Nature and Welllbeing work in their AONB took place and the write up notes from the session are listed below. (more…)

This briefing looked at some of the many different ways we can work on the theme of geodiversity – etc – to help people to understand and enjoy their local landscape and natural heritage. In the North Pennines AONB, also a UNESCO Global Geopark, the team has had a strong focus on geodiversity work for over ten years and has significant experience to share about how to make the most of this often overlooked aspect of our heritage, and one which is intimately linked to landscape.

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This briefing highlighted the value of evidence from landscape change surveillance and monitoring for designated landscapes management planning and put this in the context of Natural England’s work to develop national indicators for landscape change using the NCA profiles as an ‘all England’ spatial framework. Also how this work fits with the Natural England Conservation Strategy. (more…)