Northern Monk fund school visits to Hardknott Forest

"HOW OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH NORTHERN MONK HAS FUNDED ACCESS TO THE OUTDOORS" by John Hodgson, Engagement Manager, October 2026

Thanks to funding from Northern Monk, the Restoring Hardknott Forest project have hosted groups of students from Millom School who have been able to take part in practical conservation work and experience their local wildlife and ecology.

Funding for transport is often a problem for accessing the outdoors, and more so with a remote and wild site like Hardknott Forest. Communities along the west coast of Cumbria include areas of high unemployment and often have poor public transport links, and this has been a factor for access and inclusion.

Offering funded transport has meant on their regular visits the students have planted trees and wildflowers and learnt of their place in the ecosystem. They have seen snakes and lizards, identified the droppings of pine martens (a brand new experience in Cumbria) and set up wildlife cameras which have filmed deer, red squirrels and tawny owls. More importantly they have visited wild places, which although not that far away as the eagle flies, many haven’t experienced before.

Over the last two years the project has hosted 24 visits with groups of 12 to 15 students each time. Blocks of six consecutive visits mean the sessions can build on knowledge and expertise over time, and there are opportunities to develop the students own interests.

Project Engagement Manager John Hodgson spent many years teaching in the local area before joining the project, and sees how valuable such experiences are for students, as well as other visitors to the project. “The benefits of time spent outdoors are well known, but to be able to offer regular sessions outdoors makes a real difference to the options available to some of the students. We’ve created several new jobs within this project, and my ambition is that one day a student from a local school like Millom will end up getting one of them”.

Chloe Moore, a teacher at the school said “Our students (and myself) have thoroughly enjoyed our visits to Harkdnott Forest. One of the things that has really stood out to me is how keen the students have been to understand how the activities they’ve been doing are playing a part in the wider restoration project – the students get a real sense of satisfaction from knowing that their efforts are genuinely supporting wildlife for years to come. Watching the wildlife camera has been a personal highlight of mine – the previous group were lucky enough to catch a red squirrel, which was met with utter delight!”

Some feedback from the students included:

“The things I enjoyed the most were planting the trees and learning about the animals. I was fun putting out some treats for the wildlife” and “I enjoyed the bracken bashing because it was helping wild flowers grow and spread so it brought colour into the forest.”

The project plans to continue using funding from Northern Monk for funding school visits, and another 12 visits with Millom School are being organised for Spring and Summer 2027. Another local school is also now getting involved thanks to the funding.