Living North Pennines

This is an initiative made possible with almost £2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and being led by the AONB Partnership. Launched at the beginning of 2008, this three-year project will bring benefits to a wide range of exciting wildlife and community initiatives in the North Pennines.

Logo for the Heritage Lottery Fund

Six main elements are being developed which focus mainly on the upper reaches of the Rivers Tees, Derwent and South Tyne, within the boundary of the North Pennines AONB and European and Global Geopark.

Living North Pennines
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Living North Pennines is an initiative of the North Pennines AONB Partnership, with support from: the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Environment Agency, Northumbrian Water, English Heritage, the SITA Trust, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, Durham County Council, Northumberland County Council and Cumbria County Council.

For more information please contact Jon Charlton (Living North Pennines Project Manager) on 01388 528801  (jcharlton@northpenninesaonb.org.uk).

In this section

Rivers and Reservoirs

This element of the Living North Pennines initiative is improving access to key waterside sites so that more people can enjoy the sights and sounds of the riverbank or reservoir shoreline. Work is also going on with landowners and managers to improve habitats so that wetland creatures - particularly the engaging little water vole - can thrive once more in the area.

Updated: 18/11/09

Rivers and Reservoirs

Our North Pennines Stories

The valleys and moorlands of the North Pennines may sometimes look wild and untamed, but everywhere you look, people have left their imprint on the landscape. Collecting and telling the stories of the people who have shaped today's North Pennines enriches our understanding and appreciation of the area.

Updated: 13/04/10

Our North Pennines Stories

In the Footsteps of Pack Ponies

Pack ponies - or galloways as they were known - once trod the high moors in their hundreds, transporting lead and other goods to far-off towns.

Updated: 07/05/10

In the Footsteps of Pack Ponies

Learning in the North Pennines

The message is it's great to get out of the classroom and into the North Pennines to use this fantastic environment as a rich and varied learning resource. As well as discovering the natural world, children can learn how people living and working the area have shaped the landscape, and express their responses in creative ways.

Updated: 11/02/10

Learning in the North Pennines

Places to live, Places to Work

Work is now complete on three of four historic buildings in the AONB which show how human activity has shaped the North Pennine landscape so that visitors to the sites can get a flavour of what life was like in the North Pennines in centuries past.

Updated: 03/08/10

Places to live, Places to Work

Woodlands - Small but Perfectly Formed

Whistle Crag between Middleton-in-Teesdale and Eggleston was one of the first of a series of planting schemes in the Living North Pennines' programme which will see around 250 hectares of native upland oak and mixed ash woodlands restored in the Blanchland, Alston and Middleton areas.

Updated: 04/03/10

Woodlands - Small but Perfectly Formed