Barnard Castle Walkers Are Welcome Launch

Barnard Castle held a very enjoyable and successful launch event on 6 May to celebrate its accreditation as a Walkers are Welcome town and the first town in County Durham to join the growing community of WaW members. The group hired a stall on our popular, monthly farmers’ market and decorated it with a banner, bunting, boots, sticks, rucksacks and other appropriate walking accessories.

We handed out over a hundred leaflets, designed by the winner of a competition at a local primary school and spoke to many more people, from a surprisingly wide variety of places. We put on two short, guided walks around the ancient “yards” in the town, giving a brief outline of their social and industrial history, which received very positive feedback and, in the afternoon, there was a family walk into the woods, attended by twenty children and parents, to learn some woodcraft and enjoy toasted marshmallows, pooh sticks and a story.

The day was rounded off with an official presentation of our WaW membership certificate by the Town Mayor, which was subsequently reported in our local newspaper, the Teesdale Mercury. A good day and a promising start to our new life as part of the WaW family.