Our Coast, Our Sea - Northumberland Coast AONB Awards Excellence

8 August 2011

The Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership presented its Awards for Excellence 2011 at a gala ceremony at the Sun Hotel, Warkworth on Friday 5 August 2011. The Partnership makes the Awards to acknowledge, promote and celebrate excellence in the care, management and development of our coast and countryside.

Opening the Ceremony, Pat Scott, AONB Partnership Chair, noted this was the second time the Awards had been conferred, but that it was intended they be now be run on a biennial basis. Pat praised the exceptionally high quality of all nominations for the three Awards and thanked entrants for the inspiration they provided and their wonderful contribution to the natural beauty of the AONB.

In the Building Design category, the Award was won jointly by Eleanor’s Byre, Embleton Mill and Dewar’s Lane Granary in Berwick. The judges appreciated how the owner Elizabeth Robertson had given the Byre, which dates back to 1269, a new lease of life while reflecting its agricultural origins. The stated that the Byre “is every inch about how to trade sensitively and successfully in the AONB”. Similarly, the Berwick Preservation Trust had salvaged the Granary and translated “the imprint of industry” and ensured its character was “everywhere to be seen.” It was a “cultural inspiration.”

Hunting Hall, near Beal did extremely well winning two Awards: Farming & Land Management and Sustainable Tourism. For the Farming Award the judges said Tom and Karen Burn (in partnership with W. L. Douglas & Sons) had “passion and commitment” to farm and manage their land in an innovative, sustainable and wildlife friendly way.” Initiatives included well managed woodlands, hedgerows, field boundaries, wide field margins, herb-rich grasslands and ponds. “Hunting Hall makes a significant and worthy contribution to the landscape of the AONB.”

For its Sustainable Tourism Award the judges enthused that “Hunting Hall demonstrates perfectly that being green and providing high-quality accommodation can go hand in hand.” Furthermore, that while “a green ethos runs through the whole business, it isn’t ‘in the faces’ of guests, it’s more a way of life – truly inspirational!”

The Northumberland 4Shores Partnership project, led by the Environment Agency, and the Northumberland Whin Grassland Project, of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, received Highly Commended Awards in the Farming and Land Management category.

Also, St Cuthbert’s House, North Sunderland, and Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel, Embleton, were Highly Commended in the Sustainable Tourism Category. The Awards were presented by three guests speakers: Graham Bell, North of England Civic Trust; Simon Henderson, West Fenton Farm, The Fenton Centre and Fenton Fine Foods; and Sonja Gregory, The Hytte at Bingfield near Hexham.

The Awards themselves were specially commissioned from Stehen Lunn, the Anvilman Blacksmith of Redrow and made from wrought iron and beach stone.