AN outdoor exhibition celebrating hill farming will be on show in upper Teesdale as part of a major natural heritage programme.
Photographer Joanne Coates spent a year documenting the farming year in upper Teesdale as part of the Tees-Swale: naturally connected programme being delivered by the North Pennines AONB Partnership and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
The exhibition offers insight into the working life of tenant farmers Paul and Jen Johnson at Herdship, on the Raby Estate. The photographs will be exhibited a short distance down the dale in the field at the Langdon Beck Hotel, until June 4. Entry is free and there is parking at the hotel. Twenty images of life, work and the natural year at Herdship will be on display. The large format images have been mounted on posts which will be repurposed for tree guards at the end of the exhibition.
“We took part in this project because we wanted to show the work that goes into a hill farm and the nature-friendly way we farm, working with wildflowers and birds. Looking after nature is part of our everyday business,” said Mr Johnson. Duncan Peake, chief executive of Raby Estate and board member of the Tees-Swale programme, said: “Upper Teesdale is a special place for people and nature, but this hasn’t happened by accident.
“Farmers such as Paul and Jen Johnson have adapted their farming methods to create the right conditions for wildlife to thrive, and this way of farming with nature is at the heart of the Tees-Swale programme.
“It is wonderful to see these honest and charismatic images charting a year in the life of this upland farm and those working it, and we hope visitors and locals enjoy coming to Langdon Beck to see them.”
Ms Coates said: “As someone who has worked as a farm labourer, living in a very rural area, with a partner who farms, I think that arts projects around the hidden elements of farming are vital.
“Hill farmers are custodians of the land and put an immense amount of care into what they do. It is not only for today that they farm, but for the future. This isn’t often understood, and it was a really important element for me, to showcase this story of one who cares for the land.”
The project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
