Today sees the launch of a new section in our supplier directory to help our members and viewers with Recommended suppliers for landscape contracts, compost, topsoils and turf.

The First supplier to be included into the directory is SpringBridge Direct as a recommended supplier of composts and top soils for Berkshire Click here for further details

Cumbria Wildlife Trust has secured funding from The Heritage Lottery Fund for its latest project, High Fell – The Cumbria Landscape Story. This funding will enable the Trust to go ahead and launch this oral history project that will record memories of how the fells have changed since World War Two.

The memories and stories of individuals who have lived and worked in the Lakes for 50 to 60 years will be recorded and archived by local volunteers, so preserving this crucial information for future generations. We will also be able to show how dramatically our iconic landscape of the high fells and its biodiversity has changed through the decades.

Neil Harnott, Senior Conservation Officer, said ‘Changes in land management and a movement away from traditional ways of working the land have led to a transformation in the landscape of the Lake District. The effects of these changes on the landscape and its people have gone largely unrecorded so this project will seek to redress the balance as well as offer volunteers the opportunity to learn new skills in interviewing, recording and archiving.’

The interviews between volunteers and those who have decades of memories and stories on the county’s landscape and wildlife, will be interpreted in a podcast and interactive website. The podcasts will also accompany a series of walks around the central fells.

An exhibition of the findings will also be displayed around the county, promoting accessibility for all and ensuring those who can’t go on the walks also have an opportunity to learn more about Cumbria’s high fells and the changes in its management and biodiversity. New audiences will be engaged and the dimensions of the landscape, local heritage and natural history will all be drawn together and supported by literary references, archive photos, maps and environmental records.

The project is due to start in April and will run for 12 months. The position of High Fell Project Officer is currently being advertised and further details are available on the jobs page at www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk

-         Ends -

Editor’s notes

-         For further information, please contact Lucy Graham, Marketing and Events Officer, on 01539 816300

-         The Heritage Lottery Fund: Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund gives grants to sustain and transform our heritage. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. Find out more at www.hlf.org.uk

• Cumbria Wildlife Trust has over 400 followers on Facebook who it will be inviting to this virtual event and who will be asked to spread the message to their friends.
• Cumbria Wildlife Trust is a registered charity established in 1962.  We have more than 15,000 members and work in partnership with landowners, local authorities, other conservation organisations and businesses to conserve and protect wildlife and wild places throughout Cumbria.
• Cumbria has more wildlife sites of national and international importance than any other county.  Cumbria Wildlife Trust cares for over 40 nature reserves, which include peat bogs, limestone pavements, ancient woodlands and coastal sites.

Our yearly Gunnera Competition:

First prize: £250 worth of plants for your garden

To celebrate the arrival of spring we are running a fun competition with a prize of £250 worth of plants for the person who can guess the time and day when our Gunnera reaches 60 centimetres from the top of the crown to the tip of the uppermost leaf.

Just email your estimated guess of day and time in hours and minutes and send it to us.gunnera@gardenadvice.co.uk . One entry only per email address. In the event of more than one winner, the prize will be shared. Fifty runners-up will receive a free gardening book, Bugs, slugs and other invaders by Sarah Ford. Prizes will be sent within 14 days of the competition’s closing date – i.e. when the Gunnera reaches its 60 centimetres!

Good Luck! We will be publishing our Gunnera’s growth progress twice a day, in the morning and early evening, which you can follow on our Twitter page.    http://twitter.com/mygardenteam

This Valentine’s Day, sponsor a Cumbria Wildlife Trust Love Nest for your loved one. You will be showing your Valentine some wild love and expressing your passion for wildlife too.

This is a great alternative Valentine’s Day gift to those roses that wilt or that chocolate that breaks new year resolutions. It also gives you the chance to give a cold shoulder to those less sustainable options that may just end up in a drawer or, worse, landfill and instead help local wildlife.

All you have to do is sponsor a Love Nest. Just click on to www.cumbriawildlifetrust and follow the Love Nest links to secure your nest. Each Love Nest is £17.50, all of which will go towards helping Cumbria’s breeding birds snuggle down; your loved one will receive a lovely card and have the satisfaction that they are helping to protect local wildlife for the long-term.

There are over 200 species of bird found in Cumbria – but many are under threat or in decline. Your gift will help Cumbria Wildlife Trust to provide havens where birds can build their nests, to protect their eggs and young from predators and help us to ensure they have places to find food for their fledglings.

Lakeland Radio is showing its support for this environmentally conscious initiative with a series of promotions; in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, morning show listeners will have a chance to win a free love nest to send to their Valentine– so tune in!

Volunteer to learn how to build an eco house our of cob (earth, sand and straw) in central France’ (Creuse). 2011 topics covered include: design; soil testing; cob mixing; building upwards; fitting doors and windows; sculpting/artistic touches; living roof; flooring; rocket stove bench; earth oven; natural finishes (plastering etc). Short or long-term stay options. A full work-out for the body and mind, with plenty of fun and creativity. In your spare time, explore the beautiful lakes, forests, rocks, towers and chateaux of central France.

(https://sites.google.com/site/amrustic/home), visit our Myspace page (www.myspace.com/amrustic) or email: am.rustic@hotmail.co.uk

MORE DETAILS:

DATES
Workshops/courses start in April and continue until early June (see below).
Exact dates depend on demand/interest, so please get in touch.

PRICES:
The experiential course is on a free/donations basis. Food an optional extra (see website)

LOCATION:
Bord St georges, Creuse, France

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?ftid=0x47fa1ecc873f9975:0x3bdd7f7ea1307c5f&q=bord+st+georges&hl=en&dtab=0&sll=46.259852,2.29875&sspn=0.061733,0.128059&ie=UTF8&ll=46.302473,2.22559&spn=0,0&z=13

COURSE TOPICS:
Building an earth oven (2 days)
Designing your cob house (1 day):
History; sustainable and recycled materials; artistic and organic designs; spiritual and human aspects; passive solar energy; choosing location (soil testing etc).
Building a roof structure (1 week)
General cob mixing and building (1 day):
Soil testing; mixing; how to build with it (cobber’s thumb).
Building up walls (several weeks – choose between short or long stay):
Stone base; building upwards; artistic and organic designs (arches, curves, bottle designs); fitting windows and doors.
Living roof (1 week):
Design, planning, materials.
Natural flooring (1-2 weeks):
Layers; insulation; finishing.
Rocket stove bench (1 week):
Design principles; using recycled materials; building the chimney/pipes; building a heated bench/bed
Finishing touches (1-2 weeks):
Natural materials explained; plastering outside walls and inside walls; natural paints.