Exploring Bowlees with a school group from The Oaks

This term, a group from The Oaks Secondary School in Spennymoor have been volunteering with us and our partners, as part of their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. We asked the sixth form group to discuss, write or draw what they noticed on a visit to Bowlees Visitor Centre and its surroundings in November. They came up with all sorts of things, which we hope will be useful to other people to know what to expect and look out for when you visit, and we have grouped them together here.

Starting at the front of the visitor centre, we could hear birds and cars and water and a rumbling that might be a generator or engine. There were birds flitting back and forth into the trees. A holly tree was covered with red berries. We felt the gravel beneath our feet and the fresh air around us with different smells. We met people walking dogs who stopped and said hello. We could see sheep in the fields on the slopes around us.

We took a level route past the back of the cottages to avoid some steps. This took us past the plant nursery, where the plants we had been putting into a meadow the week before had been grown. We came to a bridge with water rushing under it and green moss growing on the stones. We all grabbed a stick and dropped them into the water and ran to see them emerge on the other side.

We followed the path into the car park, looking out for cars driving in. In the car park we found that the big rock by the bridge is good for sitting on for a rest, and fits one person comfortably but three can get on if they get close. It was cold and hard though. There was a closed building and a big board with a map, a parking pay machine and some signs for no camping or fires, which seemed funny on a damp day in winter.

We walked along the big wide path. There was a toilet in a small building there but it was locked. It seemed like quite a long way to go if we wanted the toilet back at the visitor centre. There is a slope on one side with baby trees surrounded by plastic tubes to stop animals eating them. There were trees around that had fallen or been chopped up too, covered in soft moss. The path was covered with gloopy mud which some people found slippy and someone said it felt disgusting under their feet. A farm buggy trundled past noisily on a different path.

We came into the quarry and had an explore. There were cliffs of rocks all around us and some slippery rocks on the ground. We thought rocks might sometimes fall off the cliffs too. The moss was soft like a sponge, and there was spiky reindeer moss growing on some branches. It was fun to climb into the tiny cave and everyone wanted a go. Someone pretended to be a badger in its hole saying “welcome to my home”.

Next we went up the steps. They were quite hard work and high for our legs and when someone counted on the way down they found there were 40 of them. Someone had carved a heart on the tree at the top (we wouldn’t hurt a tree like that of course). We went through a gate, and at the end of the fence there were some rocks that look a bit like steps, but you wouldn’t want to go that way as you’d slide straight into the stream.

We followed the path, which had some muddy patches, and then it got rocky and thin. We came around a bend and could see the waterfall through the trees. When we got close, the waterfall was very loud so it was hard to talk. We still tried though – one person kept saying “wow!”

Then it was time to go back the same way we had come, along the rock path, past the mud, and slowly down the big steps, counting on the way. We went past the quarry and the toilet block and back to the car park.

We liked this place, with things to explore, a waterfall to see, birds and trees and rocks and dogs. We were less keen on climbing awkward steps and trying to walk on or around the mud. One person wrote an account as a sort of poem, so we’ll finish with that, slightly adapted.

Keep hearing birds and water
and see dogs, sheep, trees.
Water under a bridge.
People sit on fallen rock.
Mud stinks.
When fallen, tree is chopped off.
Wall made of huge rocks,
made years ago when rocks fell.
Could have broken leg slipping.
Rocks made mossy wall.
Made new rock. Might be dangerous.
Falling made these caves in the wall
where it goes super dark.
Waterfall flows into river.