Peter Murray and Jane Hilton of High Crane Lodge, near Hamsterley, have been welcoming primary school children to their 75-acre farm since 2012, teaching them about farming and the countryside.
Now their efforts have been recognised through the Bayer Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) Awards – they won in the biodiversity category.
The award is made to a farm that encourages young people to develop a greater understanding of the importance of biodiversity in general or for a specific species.
The couple collected their award at a lunch in London’s Banking Hall in front of more than 100 guests from the world of agriculture and education.
The head judge and national education officer for FACE, Janet Hickinbottom, said: “The competition this year was extremely fierce but the judges were really impressed with how Jane and Peter have been working with children to enrich their knowledge of wildlife in a farming environment, and we were delighted to present High Crane Lodge with the biodiversity award.”
Incredibly, the couple offer visits to their farm free to primary schools throughout the area and some have come from as far as Newcastle to enjoy the day out.
The idea to start offering the visits came about while Ms Hilton, who is a former teacher, was doing volunteer work at Hamsterley Primary School.
She said: “We had a practice session with Hamsterley to see if it would work. It worked, so we decided we would do more.” The couple signed up with FACE, which provided help, guidance and resources, and underwent training.
Schools from Teesdale that have enjoyed free visits to High Crane Lodge include Ingleton, Bowes, Green Lane and Montalbo.
Startforth Morritt Primary School was an annual visitor before it closed.
Along with seeing the farm’s Highland cattle, horses, British saddleback pigs and marsh daisy chickens, children spend the day identifying trees, wildflowers and types of grass, dissecting barn owl pellets to see what they have been eating, going bug hunting among the many bug hotels and learning how to start their own vegetable patch.
Mr Murray said: “It is amazing what the kids take away from it. What is quite nice to see is that you have actually lit some kind of enthusiasm in them.
“There is always one or two of them on each visit that get a little bit of inspiration.
“If there is something that inspires just one or two of them to go on to do something in an environmental career then that would be great”.
The couple have been successful in the awards in the past, having been commended in the inspiring educator and biodiversity categories in 2013 and 2015.
However, this is the first time they have come out as top in the country.
Mr Murray said: “It is amazing really and somewhat unexpected. The other three finalists are pretty big organisations so we were up against tough competition. It is a bit of a boost for us really.”
The couple offer the free visits during the summer term from May to July each year. For more information email Ms Hilton at jhilton1609.hclce@gmail.com or search for High Crane Lodge on the website countrysideclassroom.org.uk.
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