I’m delighted to be joining the AONB Partnership team as Historic and Built Environment Officer. It is a return to working in the Northumberland Coast AONB for me, at least to the northern part of the AONB, following on from a heritage and outreach role for the Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Partnership in 2016-2017. I’m looking forward to renewing old contacts and making new ones over the next three years whilst Jessica is on secondment to the Accessing Aidan project.
For Peregrini, I was involved in a variety of natural and cultural heritage projects including the creation of willow sculpture trail on Holy Island, the recording and conservation of WWII military defences and removing gorse to encourage regrowth of whin grasslands. More recently, I’ve been working for Northumberland County Council’s Conservation Team, providing archaeological advice to planners.
I moved to Northumberland four years ago from Perth, Scotland where I worked in a similar archaeological development management role for Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust. For PKHT I also was involved in community archaeology projects and organised Doors Open Days, the annual celebration of historic and interesting buildings.
And lastly for a bit of family history! I grew up in South Yorkshire but have family connections to the Northumberland coast. My paternal grandparents met at Alnmouth south beach in the 1930s; my Grandad spending his summers camping there from Ashington and my Grandma visiting from Alnwick. I recently found the photo below of my Grandma (with headscarf), her sister and parents at their beach hut on the dunes that I thought I would share with you.
With the Peregrini project, I discovered the majority of the beach huts along the Northumberland coast were removed during WWII as part of its fortification and now of course, such structures (or ‘wild camping’ for whole summers!) would not be acceptable in such a sensitive location; all illustrative of the ever-changing nature and use of this fabulous landscape.
Sarah will be providing development management advice to NCC Planning to ensure the special qualities of the AONB are conserved and enhanced, and contributing to built heritage projects and initiatives within the AONB. Contact Sarah on 01670 622621 / 07966 330042 or by email sarah.winlow01@northumbe
Other Photos
