Beginning a year of community engagement

Fellfoot voices blog by Emma Pope, trainee with the North Pennines AONB Partnership

In June I started my role as Community Engagement Trainee for the North Pennines AONB Partnership, working on the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme. This is my first role of this kind and I am really pleased to be gaining this experience, building upon my interests and studies up to now.

My undergraduate dissertation explored sustainable tourism and place attachment in the Peak District National Park, and how feeling connected to a place can encourage engagement in conservation initiatives. This relationship between positive experiences in the outdoors and how it may lead to care for the environment was the focus of my recent PhD, which explored how adventure can connect people with nature, enhance wellbeing, and encourage pro-environmental behaviours.

Having studied these areas for a few years, I was really keen to gain some more practical experience with an organisation that related to enjoyment and care for nature. This trainee role was therefore perfect and is already allowing me to work on various projects that explore and facilitate this. The Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership scheme aims to conserve, enhance, and celebrate the area’s natural and cultural heritage, forging creative connections with locals and visitors to encourage engagement with and care for place.

Getting my bearings on the map with Fellfoot Forward colleague Rio.

Even though I am only a couple of months into my role, I have already learnt so much and had the opportunity to be involved in many projects and events. One of the first things I worked on was the Festival of Nature at Talkin Tarn, which brought together lots of organisations to engage the public in various nature-based activities, from pond-dipping, to environmental art, to wildlife identification walks. Being part of the team who delivered this weekend of nature celebration was a great start to my twelve months here and it was really rewarding to see so many people out enjoying learning about and being engaged with nature. I have also been into a local school helping deliver sessions engaging young people in conservation conversations and activities.

The sessions at the Festival of Nature, Talkin Tarn

Over the summer I have been helping to deliver various community engagement events, including sustainability festivals and outdoor activity days. Alongside this, my main focus is working on the Fellfoot Forward scheme’s Slow Trails project. This project is developing walking and cycling routes in the scheme area, encouraging exploration and immersion in the nature and culture of the landscape. I will be working on access improvements, route descriptions, and trail interpretation for a range of village heritage trials, easy access walks, and a cycle route.

These trails will encourage visitors and the local community to move slowly through the landscape, engage in the sense of place and heritage of this area, and immerse themselves in nature. Community engagement will be a significant aspect of the project, working with local communities to create slow trails stories for use in the interpretation and communication of these routes, as well as recruiting volunteers to help test the trails. The aim and outputs of this project really align with my own personal and professional interests around providing access to the outdoors, memorable experiences, and opportunities for people to connect with nature, so I feel really pleased and grateful to be gaining this practical experience.

Walking the Ainstable village slow trail

The Community Engagement Trainee role is already giving me such valuable experience in this sector and in a role that is enabling me to engage various communities in the positive work of Fellfoot Forward and the North Pennines AONB Partnership. I hope these experiences will help me find future work which facilitates similar benefits for people and nature through meaningful engagement in the outdoors.