A new education and visitor centre that shows food production need not cost the earth had its official opening when the Region's environmental VIPs tour the facilities today (Wednesday March 12).
The Barn at Beal, set on the Northumberland coastline with spectacular views across to Holy Island and Bamburgh Castle, is the result of a collaboration between farmer Rod Smith and Natural England, and aims to help schoolchildren and visitors alike see the challenges today's farmers face producing food, while ensuring wildlife and the environment are protected for future generations.
Local author and journalist Judith O'Reilly - famous on the Internet for her blog diary "Wife in the North" - cut the ribbon and declared The Barn officially open.
Rod was on hand to show visitors around the facilities, which include a fully-equipped classroom, complete with an extremely powerful "live tide" camera which can scan the coastline and zoom in on points of interest such as Holy Island's causeway. So if the weather's not so good - and it has been known on the Northumberland coast - people can enjoy the amazing scenery and wildlife from the comfort of the visitor centre.
Rod, whose family came to farm at Beal in 1972, said he first had the idea to establish an education and visitor centre about five years
ago: "Because these days there's year-round availability of just about every kind of food you can think of, we're gradually losing the understanding that different foods have different seasons - we need to work with the land and the seasons to get back to enjoying locally produced food that is plentiful at that particular time".
The old cart shed, built in the 1820s with unusual wrought iron pillars and panoramic views out to sea was the perfect location for The Barn at Beal, now boasts an education room for community groups and school visits, interpretation of the local area, and a gift and coffee shop. There are also plans employ an on-site education officer, and develop walks, bird-watching and cycle rides that will link in to the Sustrans coastal route and St Cuthbert's Way.
Working in partnership with Natural England, much of the farmland has been designed specifically with wildlife in mind: there's wet grassland for wading birds, fields of crop stubble for the internationally important Light Bellied Brent Geese that spend the winter months at Lindisfarne, and wild bird seed plots for farmland birds such as lapwings, corn buntings and tree sparrows and restored hedgerow smaller birds like finches and yellowhammers. Humans have benefited too, with 10 new local jobs created to help manage The Barn and surrounding farmland.
Deborah Charlton of Natural England has been with the project every step of the way. She said: "The Barn at Beal acts as a gateway to the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve, a place from which people can start to explore the area, discover the local history and industries, and see what is being done to ensure that farming works alongside natural habitats to the benefit of both people and wildlife."
