Landscape Nature & the Sheep Farming Year

Landscape, Nature
& The Sheep
Farming Year

Landscape, Nature
& The Sheep
Farming Year
A year-long arts, environment and heritage project celebrating our
characteristic landscape, nature and sheep farming in its many different
forms. Bringing together four local schools: Blessed John Duckett, Peases
West, Stanley Crook and Tow Law Millennium Primary with conservationists,
historians and artists.
The project celebrates the natural and working landscape on the ridge
between Satley, Tow Law, Stanley Crook and Billy Row in Wear Valley, County
Durham.
Participants have learnt about elements of local sheep rearing and the Viking
heritage of rare breeds. They made artwork using sheep as live ‘models’,
learned techniques such as spinning, braiding, felting, and enjoyed taking
part in their own ‘Country Fair.’

Felted Landscapes:
Pupils from four local
primary schools learned
simple wet felting
techniques with artist
Jenny Mountain. Using
locally sourced Hebridean
and Manx Loaghtan wool
they made their own
felted landscapes.

Louisa’s Manx Loaghtan
and Hebridean sheep
being hand sheared,
providing the wool for
the feltmaking activities.
Tow Law smallholder
Dr. Louisa Gidney
showing her rare breed
sheep (Manx Loaghtan
and Hebridean) at
Lanchester Agricultural
Show, July 2019.

Burnhill Nature Reserve
Burnhill Nature Reserve, Waskerley, Salters Gate, situated just outside
Tow Law is supported by Natural England as home to the ‘Rare Small
Pearl Bordered Fritillary’ butterfly. As such it offers a unique, off-road, offgrid
opportunity to school groups to observe and take part in nature and
conservation activities. Burnhill Nature Reserve happily coexists within
grazing areas of an active family-run sheep farm.
During the ‘Landscape, Nature and Sheep Farming Year’ project there were
12 day long visits to Burnhill, 4 from each school. As part of the project,
Russell Bell led different year groups in identifying all types of wildlife living
on Burnhill Nature Reserve. Pupils learnt about different categories of wildlife
- herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and insectivores, and of their habitats, as
predators or prey, of camouflage, hunting, foraging, storage, hibernation and
torpor.
This was then followed with pond dipping, a quiz, lunch and playing outdoors.
The afternoons were divided into blocks of different sheep related heritage,
craft, and art sessions so all schools had chance to experience a day with each
different activity.

Hall Hill Farm
All four schools’ nursery
and reception classes
visited Hall Hill Farm, an
animal education centre,
giving children the
opportunity to get close
to a variety of animals
and experience feeding
the lambs.

Tow Law Community Centre
A wonderful day at the Community Centre working with artists Sue Abel, Jenny
Mountain and Rosi Thornton, and learning heritage skills delivered by Dr. Louisa
Guidney. The children came together from each of the schools to help design
an iconic sheep textile panel that would work together and as individual pieces,
one for each school to have. There was a carousel of activities including drawing
and printing, taking a line for a walk to create landscape, that worked towards
creating the textile panels. The children explored processes of drop spinning,
wet felt making, and other woollen textile-based activities such as proddy
matting, weaving, wool winding, and contoured sewing of dyed blankets using
hand-sewing machines.

Heritage sessions
Pupils learned with Louisa about how some of our
rare breed sheep breeds were brought to the British
Isles by the Vikings and how the various different
breeds have evolved. This was then followed with
activities practising early related crafts of spinning
and braid weaving, essential Viking living skills.

Observational drawing and mono prints sessions
Pupils had the opportunity to draw sheep in the landscape at Burnhill Nature
Reserve. The children learned about the sheep, their feeding, tagging and
recording, and that the sheep at Burnhill are ‘Mules’ which are Swaledale
crossed with Blue Faced Leicester. Drawings and mono print artworks from
these sessions were collated and shown at Wolsingham Agricultural Show
September 2019 in two large hangings displayed by artist Sue Abel.

Visiting West Shields Farm
Farmer David Smith and family have been very
generous in inviting visits from school groups to
their family farm ‘West Shields Farm’.
‘West Shields Farm’ is nestled into the landscape
just beyond Tow Law, behind the A68 offering a
whole world to the children largely hidden to view.
Visits started with schools walking either through
Tow Law, or over the fell, making notes of interest
along the way to the Inkerman to Lanchester road,
further cutting across fields, past windmill, forest
and open countryside.

Schools have been made very welcome sharing
aspects of the farm, from its machinery, sheep at
close quarters, talking about their care, and other
livestock from young calves, heifers and bullocks
to the much older cattle stock. All with ample time
given for children to ask questions and interact with
the animals, making close observations and taking
photographs.

‘Tow Law Country Fair’ Tow Law Community Centre
For participants to experience a country fair and to celebrate their work made
throughout the year, we held a Country Fair on 20 th September for schools and
community, at Tow Law Community Centre celebrating our ‘Landscape Nature
and Sheep farming year’ project.
We exhibited:
• School’s ‘Sheep and Landscape’ panels.
• Sheep drawings and prints the children made at Burnhill Nature Reserve
with artist Sue Abel, and collated into 2 large hangings for showing at
Wolsingham agricultural show.
• Paintings from the Tow Law Art group exhibited on the Wolsingham
Agricultural show painted in the theme of Landscape, Nature and Sheep
farming year.
• Work by Louise Taylor from ‘Hefted to Hill’ capturing both intimate and
wonderfully expansive scenes of upper Dale hill farming. Importantly
sharing work of a photographer living in the children’s own community, as
inspiring creative aspiration.

Activities
Lantern-making workshop
with Daisy Arts, theme of
sheep/rams heads linking
with Jack Drum’s mythical
heads for both Tow
Law and Crook Lantern
parades.
‘Hook a duck’ and
Tombola sideshows with an allocation of glass beads or buttons and a Ceilidh.
Competition entries
Art and Crafts, Photography and Baking Entries, Junior and Adult categories.
Recreating elements of a country show and bringing timeless qualities of entries
judging of baking, photography and art.
Children were chatting and commenting on the pictures from the art group and
the entries enjoying the judging and prize element greatly; seeing the show
work exhibited along side, name spotting ones they recognised.

‘Sunniside Up Ceilidh Band’ generated a very positive call/dance experience for
everyone to follow with an additional clog dance demonstration.
Two members of St John’s Chapel Ceilidh group came to help us, sharing their
love of Ceilidh dancing with the children, who had such fun learning the dances.
Community. There was great community involvement with everyone stepping
up and helping the Country Fair’s becoming a very real success; an experience
which will remain as a positive memory in the children’s minds of new
experience and community openness.

Thank you to everyone involved:
SCHOOLS:
Blessed John Duckett Primary School
Peases West Primary School
Stanley Crook Primary School
Tow Law Millennium Green Primary School
BURNHILL NATURE RESERVE:
Russel Bell
ARTISTS:
Sue Abel
Jenny Mountain; artist & project lead
Rosi Thornton
Dr Louisa Gidney
DOCUMENTATION:
Matt James Smith
Louise Taylor
TRANSPORT:
Wear Valley Community Transport
Click this link to see what happened
during the Landscape, Nature & Sheep
Farming Year project - Wild Times!
https://vimeo.com/361165227
& supported by Tow
Law Town Council