BUSY YEAR FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FUND

The Exmoor Sustainable Development Fund (SDF) a Defra fund, administered by Exmoor National Park Authority, has had a busy year with more than 46 expressions of interest, 23 completed applications and 18 grants totalling £324,830 being awarded. The median grant offered was £13,300.

Amongst those receiving a helping hand was the South West Lakes Trust.

New Bird Hide for Wimbleball

The new bird hide at Wimbleball Lake funded by the Exmoor Sustainable Development Fund, European Regional Development Fund and South West Lakes Trust has now replaced the old bird hide after 20 years of service to visitors.

The new hide was manufactured and installed by Kleen Kutt, a local firm, based in Bridgewater. The roof is made from cedar roofing shingles and the cladding of tannalised feather edge boards. All the timber used is FSC certified, originating from Exmoor and the Quantocks.

The access track was constructed by Stacey Construction of Wiveliscombe and is a new 70m track to the bird hide. The surface of the path is a resin bound surface; this material is UV stable, permeable and crack resistant with no loose material, making it ideal for wheelchair and pushchair use.

The London Camera Exchange have also provided 8 binoculars which can be used by school groups and for guided walks and the RSPB have provided ID posters and images for bird check list.

Roger Butcher, local ornithologist and volunteer, helped to dismantle the old bide hide and has helped to produce the draft for the bird check list solely updating the bird list for Wimbleball.

Exmoor Pony Centre

An SDF award to the Moorland Mousie Trust has meant that after years of hard work by the local charity, the Exmoor Pony Centre finally opened its doors to visitors earlier in the year. The Centre caters for people who want to not only to learn more about the ponies, but also be able to interact with them.  As founder Val Sherwin puts it: “What could be a more perfect way to see Exmoor’s natural beauty that on the back of one of its native ponies?  The centre is educational in every sense of the word.”  

A course on Handling the Young Exmoor Pony recently held at the Exmoor Pony Centre was an outstanding success with 38 participants from all walks of life. A total of 23 totally wild ponies were handled, head collared, led and had their feet picked up. As the ponies graduated, they went out into a big field coming in once a day to be caught and handled again. In due course they will go to owners to be trained for a variety of uses and some will go on to become conservation grazers eating the rough grass and gorse that other animals will not touch. For more information visit: www.exmoorponycentre.org.uk

New rides on Exmoor

Also on the subject of riding, in partnership with the British Horse Society, Exmoor National Park Authority and the Quantock Hills AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) Service, the Sustainable Development Fund helped fund a booklet containing 11 new horse-riding circular routes including pull-out laminated maps and essential riding information. The ‘Exmoor & Quantock Hills on Horseback’ publication will attract visitors, highlight the special qualities of the Exmoor and Quantock Hills area, promote sustainable tourism and bring socio-economic benefits to local businesses and communities.

Festivals and Events Project 2006

Examples of how festivals can benefit the area are shown by the Exmoor Food Festival, which has been supported by the Project over the past 3 years with funding of £14,000. It has attracted over 16,000 people and a survey carried out by Somerset Foodlinks revealed that these visitors come from Greater Exmoor 40%; rest of Somerset & Devon 24% and elsewhere 36%. Their survey also showed an average spend of £17, which can be applied to the 64% who would be assumed to be day visitors, with the remaining 36% deemed to be staying visitors, whose spend EKOS estimates at £103. This gives an estimated total spend in excess of £767,000

The launch of the South West Countryside Fair at Wimbleball Lake in May proved a great success. Celebrating the countryside and the activities available on Exmoor, it was organised in conjunction with South West Lakes Trust. Substantial support was given by the Exmoor Sustainable Development Fund both financially and in terms of the input from the Exmoor Events Co-ordinator, Jill Homewood.

Porlock Arts Festival, which has been supported for the past 2 years with funding of £4,000, was virtually a sell out and showed a 36% increase since 2005. A selection of mainly ticketed events which brought in £5,300 in sales and attracted 1232 visitors. Using the figures above the spend is estimated in excess of £59,000. The Festival attracted such names Kate Adie, Sir Christopher Oondatjee, Matt Harvey and Tony James.

The year rounded off with Dunster Days Gone By when the Medieval village and castle staged a 2-day spectacle including street entertainers, walks, local arts, crafts & produce market and the Taunton Garrison.

Mobile reedbeds success

An innovative new project to improve the quality of released wastewater has been given an SDF award through local company Aardvark EM Limited, The project has developed lightweight mobile reedbeds to treat and clean effluent, which can be deployed almost anywhere within hours of receiving a request and are cheap to run.

Significant reductions in pollutants are already being achieved at the four trial locations; one site is now considering installing a permanent reedbed.

The project is highlighting that levels of pollutants emitted from septic tanks and soak-aways are over the permitted levels; discharge consents are being breached too. Whilst the monitoring will continue at the four trial sites, the successes so far have led to sales to British Airports Authority, X-fab, a semi-conductor plant in Plymouth, and a village in Cambodia.

WoodFair

A great day was had by all at the Woodfair at Dunster with nearly 1500 people coming along to the old castle grounds.

Everyone agreed the site was stunning which certainly helped, but exhibitors also reported a really good day with many admitting it had exceeded their expectations. Quite a few made flattering comparisons with the Festival of the Tree and one exhibitor announced he that he had made more money at Dunster.

People have asked if Woodfair was going to become an annual event at Dunster and the organizers say: “Please do let us know any suggestions or criticisms you might have so that we can work on making Woodfair South West events better for everyone.”

Dunster Woodfair visitor numbers Adults, adults1250, children182.

The end of fair auction raised £3,660 for sculptures, £1,060 for chainsaws and £1,235 for equipment.

eX-factor

Building on its great success and acclaim last year, the eX-factor Project invited more talented young people from Bristol’s inner city to use Exmoor as a ‘place for inspiration’. Over three weeks of the summer they took part in a Film Week, a Music Week and a Survival Week at Exmoor National Park Authority’s Pinkery Centre for Outdoor Education situated in the middle of Exmoor. More than half the funding for the project in both 2005 and 2006 is provided by the Exmoor Sustainable Development Fund.

As part of their courses the youngsters explored and learnt about the area, going mountain-biking, horse riding, sailing, canoeing and visiting the coast, as well as tasting the delights of locally-produced organic food. For most it was their first experience of the moors, and for some their first stay in the countryside. The educational and leisure activities introduced the young people to the vast resources available on Exmoor, whilst creating an environment that they were comfortable in and catering for the needs and interests of a culturally-diverse group of inner city teenagers and staff.

Last year’s eX-factor project was hailed as a great example of good practice in showing how we can help to give more people the opportunity to enjoy the countryside and green spaces, and increase the diversity of visitors to this rich public resource. The project has acted as a blueprint to inform National Parks and the Countryside Agency’s ‘Outdoors for All’ strategy. Research has shown that many people in Britain don't have the chance to enjoy the outdoors or don’t have the right information to help them decide, although they clearly express a desire to enjoy the benefits of being outdoors.

Exmoor & Quantock Local Food Ltd, trading as Source, has been established with the help of an SDF award to provide the distribution link between local producers and potential trade and home customers. Operating as a co-operative, our office and warehouse are on Tower Farm in Lydeard St Lawrence, and the producers are based across the Exmoor and Quantock area.

Source offers a NEW home delivery service of over 100 local products from 30 local producers of the finest food & drink from Exmoor and the Quantocks providing an easy way to reduce food miles and buy fantastic local produce.

For more information: info@eqlocalfood.co.uk, www.sourceproduce.co.uk, 01984 667617.

Using Source offers the opportunity to discover produce previously not available for delivery. The organization works with a wide range of local producers who can supply a variety of goods including award winning ice cream, organic desserts, farmed and wild venison, organic and naturally grown fruit and vegetables, traditionally made cheddar, rare breed pork, traditionally reared lamb and beef, poultry, award winning ducks, Exmoor spring water, organic dairy products, chocolates, cakes and pies, preserves, crayfish, game…and much more besides