• The Barn at Easington is an arts venue and an educational centre specialising in outdoor nature-based learning.
• The Barn welcomes children, adults, local communities and schools to creative learning sessions and seasonal events.
• The Barn is contained within a beautiful 30-acre farm on the unique magnesium limestone plateau of the East Durham coast. EDUCATION:
‘Exposure to natural environments improves children’s cognitive development by improving their awareness, reasoning and observational skills’ (Robert Michael Pyle]. The Barn at Easington offers Forest School curriculum-based workshop sessions for 3-18 year olds, as well as residential camping adventures.
‘A safe, yet exciting environment for the children’ (Year 3 teacher).
‘I would highly recommend a visit’ (Executive Foundation Stage leader). We have worked with Farne Primary School, Easington Primary School, Boldon Nursery, Durham Wildlife Trust, Cotsford 1st School, Wingate Nursery, Mill Hill Nursery and Easington Village Primary School.
• We hosted a 1 day Roman themed camping residential with year 3 children from Easington Primary School:
‘The children all enjoyed their Roman camp experience and the facilities provided allowed a safe, yet exciting environment for the children to learn outdoors. Roman camp stories and damper bread cooked on an open fire were highlights for some children who then rushed to their tents to participate in their first night of camping – one which they cannot wait to repeat in the future. We will certainly be using The Barn at Easington again soon. The writing we got as a result of the camp was excellent as children wrote about their first-hand experience as Romans.’ (Joanne Wilkinson, Year 3 teacher, Easington Primary School)
• Nicola Balfour has delivered successful training to foundation staff at Bexhill Primary School. Nicola is a visual artist with Level-3 Forest-School training and qualifications. She is Early-Years Creative Consultant for Boldon Nature Nursery and Wingate Nursery. She has devised and delivered the highest-quality outdoor education in schools and nurseries throughout the North East. Her aim is to engage children’s imagination through first-hand; powerful learning experiences and thus nurture meaningful connections with the natural environment.
‘We are looking forward to developing stronger links with Nicola and we are planning further visits to explore the Barn environments during the winter season.
‘Nicola and her team are excellent hosts. I would highly recommend a visit to any school who are planning to develop their practice in relation to forest school teaching. (Diane Jeffries, Executive Foundation Stage Leader, Wise Academies)
• Community Events and family workshops: In summer 2014 we ran a family Go Wild in Nature Event with Durham Wildlife Trust, which was a great success.
• October 2014: we collaborated with Easington Action Group to celebrate the artistic and musical talents of East Durham residents in The Halloween Hoedown. We ran family workshops led by artists Gilly Rodgers and Elaine Beard, followed by live music and poetry — and amazing food from the Longhorns Smokehouse BB Q company. A great night was had by all!
• Work Exchanges project: Nicola Balfour and Jane Gower worked with 10 groups in East Durham for East Durham Creates and Beamish Museum to make 4 light and sound pieces. These artworks responded to the question-‘What do you do that is creative?’ Discussions around interpretations of creativity proved valuable: they led to recognition and inspiration of the richness and diversity of creative endeavour existing in East Durham. History:
The Barn is the home of filmmaker Ellin Hare, a founder member of Newcastle-based Amber Films; Nicola Balfour, visual artist and creative consultant; and Jon Codd. set builder and master craftsman.
2 years ago we formed the company the Barn at Easington to realise our dream of opening up the land for visitors to participate in outdoor arts and educational workshops. We have also hosted small arts and music festivals and events. We saw the potential of the Barn as an unusual arts resource to the local and wider community. Our aim is to enable diverse communities to enjoy the arts through the landscape, and to share with us our very special home. Festivals, Celebrations and Events:
So far we have collaborated with Hannabiell, musician extraordinaire, and Yilis, an artist and musician, who have masterminded 2 Harambee festivals. Harambee Pasadia is a multicultural Afrobeats Music festival which celebrates the African Diaspora in the North East. This extravaganza of dance, music, food and wellbeing truly engages the participants in a celebration of cultural diversity. Jumpin’ Hot Jamboree is small and quirky festival organised by us in collaboration with Graham Anderson, musician and music promoter from The Jumpin’ Hot Club. The festivals offers the finest authentic roots music from around the world along with real and great food. Muma Moonshine is a small family- and women-centred music festival run by musicians Gem Andrews, Nicky Rushton and Sarah Van Jellie. Weddings: Our very good friends Gilly Rodgers and Lisa Rake tied the knot at the farm this year. This wonderfully flamboyant wedding was a spectacular success which brought together a family of artists, musicians and makers in truly epic, celebratory style.
