Eccles Pike Topograph Returns

A Topograph was placed at Eccles Pike, near Chapel-en-le-Frith in the Peak District, as a community effort to mark the millennium. The original was a bronze ring, 20ft in circumference, with a ‘relief’ of the surrounding hills. It illustrated the 360 degree panoramic view and detailed the landmarks seen from this viewpoint.

It was paid for and placed there by members of the community including High Peak Borough Council, Chapel Civic Society, Chinley School and the National Trust.

In early November 2011 the Topograph was stolen, presumably for scrap metal value as it was made of bronze. On Tuesday 7 May 2013 a new Topograph was placed on Eccles Pike. It is identical to the first but this time made out of a material that holds no monetary value to hopefully reduce the chance of further theft. It has also been treated with Smart Water and other hidden security markings so if it does go missing again it will be easy to trace.

  

Explore, discover and have an adventure, before you’re 11 ¾

National Trust Press Release

The National Trust’s list of 50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾ has changed with new fun and thrilling things to do. To celebrate, the National Trust’s Longshaw Estate in the Peak District will be holding a big launch weekend on May 4^th-6^th bank holiday weekend.

The National Trust’s list of 50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾ is all about getting children closer to nature and enjoying the outdoors. Some activities on the list involve mild peril, with a risk worth taking to have fun while exploring the great outdoors.

Visitor Experience Intern, Sarah Taylor, says: “Get ready for a weekend of bug hunting, pond dipping, geocaching, and kite making and flying at Longshaw!  There are loads of activities planned for the launch weekend, with something different each day. On Saturday we will be discovering what lurks in the Longshaw pond. The Kitchen Garden volunteers will be about on Sunday with activities to tick off ‘plant it, grow it, eat it’. To finish off the weekend on Monday families will be hunting for bugs”.

Throughout the weekend children can have a go at making their own kites from recycled materials and test them out, enter the wild art competition, using Longshaw as a canvas to collect sticks, stones mud and mess to create a masterpiece. There will also be the chance to try out Longshaw’s brand new geocaching trail, set up especially for the 50 things launch weekend.

There will be new scrap books for remembering outdoor adventures and “fortune tellers” to make and take home to help complete all 50 things.

The 50 things to do list is a year round offer, not just one weekend, so to keep in the spirit we will be holding 50 Things Thursdays through the summer holidays at Longshaw with pond dipping and mini raft making.

Longshaw is an excellent place to tick as many things of the list as possible, with rocks, rivers, moors, woods, hills and hiding places to explore and discover.

Little Miss Hungry: The Penny Pot Cafe

Great review of our cafe in Edale Valley, why not have a read and then pop along and sample the cakes

Little Miss Hungry: The Penny Pot Cafe: As I mentioned last time, cake is one of my favourite things (along with most other sweet treats). One of Mat's favourite things is walking up hills, especially in the Yorkshire Dales or – more commonly since moving to Sheffield - the Peak District.

CELEBRITIES STEP BEHIND THE CAMERA

Johny Pitts reveals Upper Derwent Valley as his favourite National Trust place  

Celebrities are used to life in front of the lens but this spring stars from the world of sport, film and TV take a turn behind the camera.

Johny Pitts, CBBC Children’s TV Presenter, chefs The Fabulous Baker Brothers and England and British Lions rugby ace Austin Healey are among those who have shared photographs of the places that mean the most to them as part of a nationwide initiative by the National Trust to celebrate the importance of ‘special places’ in people’s lives.  The campaign follows research undertaken by the charity which found that 84 per cent of Brits have a favourite place they go to which positively affects their wellbeing and happiness. 83 per cent of people in Midlands also revealed they had a favourite place.

Photographs by the celebrities are being showcased on a new app created by the National Trust to encourage people to share their favourite place and why it means so much to them. The app will also feature places that are important to National Trust staff and volunteers and members of the public.

Johny Pitts decided to share Crook Hill in the Upper Derwent Valley, Peak District as his favourite place based on his childhood memories.  Johny took part in a photoshoot on Crook Hill and he can be seen drinking in the magnificent views of the Upper Derwent Valley.

Included on the app are other well-known names such as Nell McAndrew with photographs of Ham House in London, whilst Kim Cattrall shares memories of Blickling Estate in Norfolk, describing it as it as a perfect day when she visited with family. Other celebrities involved include The Fabulous Baker Brothers, Tom and Henry Herbert, who chose Dyrham Park near Bath after family picnics there and its spectacular views across the South Gloucestershire countryside. Musician Gary Kemp chose the Lake District as his special place after summers spent holidaying in the heart of National Trust countryside, sharing a picture of his son topping a Lakeland Fell.  

Johny Pitts comments, “Growing up on a council estate in Firth Park, Sheffield it always astounded me that a mere 20 minute drive away was this incredibly peaceful place full of natural beauty.  As a child I was also bewitched by the spooky ties to World War II and the Dambusters, and of the sunken village beneath Ladybower reservoir.”

“They call Sheffield the 'dirty picture in the golden frame' and I think when you live in a post-industrial city it is easy to identify with the old factories and terrace houses, and to forget that some of the world's most beautiful scenery is on your doorstep.”

“Lots of people have special places that evoke happy memories so I think it’s great that the National Trust is encouraging people to share their love and give these places the importance they deserve.”

High Peak Moors Vision & Plan Update

The draft High Peak Moors Vision and Plan went out for consultation before Christmas and we've been absolutely delighted with the amount and range of feedback we've received - over 430 responses, well over what we'd been expecting.  Thank you very much indeed to all those who have given us their time and comments.

In order to do justice to all our respondents' hard work we need more time to go through all responses in further detail. Therefore we're aiming to produce the final Vision and Plan this autumn, later than was originally envisaged.  In the interim we will be producing a general response to the comments we've received so that you'll be able to see the scope of feedback we've had and how we are proposing to work with it. 

We'll be in touch again when this becomes available via the project website www.high-peak-moors.co.uk.

Making Connections at a Landscape Scale

Key environmental figures gather to celebrate unique partnership work for the Sheffield Moors 

Environment Minister Richard Benyon and Professor Sir John Lawton, who led a government review of England’s protected areas in 2010 were key speakers at a special event yesterday to mark the work of the Sheffield Moors Partnership (SMP). £400k is being invested over the next two years to help achieve SMP’s long-term plan that will leave a legacy to local people and visitors to this area of the Peak District.

Gathering at the National Trust’s Moorlands Discovery Centre, they were joined by John Mothersole, Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council, Liz Ballard, Chief Executive of Sheffield Wildlife Trust, Jim Dixon, Chief Executive of Peak District National Park Authority, Peter Robertson, RSPB Director for the Northern Region, Beccy Speight, National Trust Director for the Midlands, and from Natural England, Tom Moat, Area Manager, Peak District, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire, together with many other organisations and people connected with the Sheffield Moors.

Formed in 2010, the Sheffield Moors Partnership (SMP) is a collaboration between the Peak District National Park Authority, RSPB, National Trust, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Wildlife Trust and Natural England to develop a landscape scale vision for the Sheffield Moors and improve connections for people and wildlife both across and in and out of the area.

The partnership aims to achieve its vision through a programme of habitat management and restoration, to encourage wildlife to move around and thrive across the landscape. The promotion of a joined up path network from surrounding communities into and across the landscape that provide high quality outdoor experiences. It is also encouraging public engagement and involvement through volunteering, inspiring events and education. All of this will be led by a long-term, 15 year masterplan, to be published in late spring 2013.

Environment Minister, Richard Benyon said: “I’d like to see more and more people getting out and about and enjoying England’s beauty spots, like the Sheffield Moors. This long-term plan will improve paths to give people better access to Sheffield Moors’ diverse habitats, while additional visitors to its pubs, cafes and tourist spots, will help to grow the local economy.

“It’s fantastic to see the Park and the local authority working with a number of different organisations to make this an even better place to visit. I am looking forward to returning in the future to enjoy some of it myself.”

Just seven miles from the centre of Sheffield, the Sheffield Moors lie in the Peak District National Park, and comprise a 56km² (21 square miles) mosaic of moorland, meadows, bogs, deciduous woodlands, and dramatic gritstone edges such as the iconic Stanage Edge. The Moors also boasts a wealth of wildlife including one of only two red deer herds in the National Park and its only colony of adders.

Speaking on behalf of the Sheffield Moors Partnership, Nick Sellwood said:

“The Sheffield Moors are unique: their proximity to England’s fourth biggest city means they are an easily accessible wild landscape for millions of people. At the same time, visitors to the area help support local businesses in North Derbyshire and Sheffield, whilst the landscape can help attract new businesses nearby who are able to offer their employees this wonderful recreational resource on their doorsteps.”

The Making Space for Nature report, chaired by Professor Sir John Lawton, recognised that England’s network of nature reserves and other protected sites is insufficient to stem the continuing loss of wild plants and animals from our countryside.

Speaking at the event, Sir John said: “The solution is simple; the protected area network needs to include more and bigger sites, better managed and more interconnected sites, for the benefit of wildlife and people. There is now overwhelming evidence that access to quality green-spaces and interesting wildlife is highly beneficial for peoples’ mental and physical well-being. That’s why the Sheffield Moors project is so exciting, and so important, restoring and re-creating habitats for the benefit of local people and visitors, who come to see thriving wildlife in wild, restored landscapes.”

The Sheffield Moors Partnership forms part of the wider Dark Peak Nature Improvement Area (Dark Peak NIA). This is one of 12 government-funded projects taking a landscape-scale approach to meet the challenges facing our wildlife.

Through the Dark Peak NIA, £400k has been secured to help implement the Sheffield Moors masterplan.

A series of public workshops and consultation roadshows have enabled over 1000 people and organisations including the British Mountaineering Council, Ramblers, Hunter Archaeology Society, and Friends of the Peak District, to help shape and inform the draft masterplan.

The final SMP masterplan will be published in late spring 2013.  Further details can be found at www.sheffieldmoors.co.uk.

They played, they conquered – Longshaw’s natural play is a hit with families

Staff, volunteers and family groups at National Trust’s Longshaw Estate in the Peak District celebrated the launch of their new natural play map last week, which was greeted with big smiles, laughter and lots of thumbs up! 

Playing in the outdoors is something that has real benefits for children and the National Trust Peak District team have recently taken on the challenge of making Longshaw (just 7.5 miles from Sheffield) even more playful for young children and their families.  With plenty of fallen trees, balancing logs and woodland to explore already, the team have delved deeper into Longshaw’s hidden places, creating balancing adventures in the woods and tunnels in the rhododendrons, and doors into imaginary places. 

 

At the launch event on Sunday 17^th February the Play Longshaw! map and new play features were unveiled on an fun activity walk, where each space had a grand opening with bunting, stories and songs.  Storyteller Gordon MacLellan (AKA the Creeping Toad), captivated children with his tales about the mischievous Boggarts of Longshaw and the Peak District, who reportedly might put stones in your shoes or eat your sandwiches when you sit down in the heather for a picnic on the moors.  Imaginations went wild as children found Boggart baths in puddles and made Boggart footprints in mud. 

 

The opening event was followed by a week of brilliant Boggart-making and mud-painting at the Moorland Discovery Centre, getting children and families fully into the spirit of natural play throughout half term. 

The Play Longshaw! map was designed by National Trust Volunteer, Lu Watkins. She said: “The Play Longshaw! launch week was really exciting – it was great seeing it all come alive.  From the feedback we’ve had so far we know it’s already a huge success, and we’re about to develop ideas for the second phase of the project so look out for more signs of Boggarts at Longshaw.”

The Play Longshaw! map is available from the Longshaw Visitor Centre during opening times, and the signs can be spotted along the route. 

To find out about other events, trails and facilities at Longshaw throughout the year visit:http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/longshaw/ 

A new year of Tales and Tunes at the Penny Pot Café, Edale

The National Trust’s Penny Pot café in Edale is hosting a series of events throughout 2013, showcasing local artists and performers in a beautiful and cosy Peak District setting.

The yearly calendar of evening events begins on Friday February 8^th, where the Penny Pot will be filled with the sounds of Chris and Andrea Wright playing traditional folk music and Helen Appleton (organiser of Matlock’s Story-telling Café) telling tales.  The Penny Pot team will serve up a delicious and hearty meal, and all of this will be on offer for just £10 per person.

Simon Atherton, event host and coordinator says: “The Tales and Tunes nights have been great fun and we hope 2013 will be another fantastic year for the event. We've welcomed some wonderful performers to Edale over the past two years and our audiences have come from all over the country to listen to the beautiful music, hear the weird and wonderful stories and to just relax in the informal and fun atmosphere of the night. So bring your friends and family along (and a bottle of something you like!) and enjoy some home-grown talent in the beautiful Edale Valley.”  

The next installment of Tales on Tunes is on Friday 15 March, with further events on May 15, September 20 and November 22.

Tales and Tunes costs £10 per person including a hearty meal, including a vegetarian option, is at the Penny Pot Café in Edale (next to Edale Train station) and runs from 7.30 – 10.30pm.  To book please call 0844 249 1895 or online http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dark-peak/things-to-see-and-do/events/.

Email peakdistrict@nationaltrust.org.uk for more information.  Bookings will close on Friday 1^st February.