A NATIONAL park welcomed families from ethnic minority backgrounds to connect with nature. 

Northumberland National Park welcomed families supported by JET (Jobs, Education and Training) on a visit to Northumberland National Park, enabling the group to have fun outdoors. 

JET helps people from Black Minority Ethnic and New Migrant communities, asylum seekers and refugees, to find work.  

Hexham Courant: Spending time in the forest schoolSpending time in the forest school

Mandy Roberts, Engagement Officer at Northumberland National Park, said: "We really enjoy working with JET and have welcomed their clients to the National Park since 2017.

"It's so important to us as a National Park that communities from all cultural backgrounds and locations feel that the National Park is a place for them, and a place where they feel a sense of belonging."

Hexham Courant: Dressing up as the animals from The Lost SpellsDressing up as the animals from The Lost Spells

The group was given the opportunity to explore the enchanting new exhibition at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre, The Lost Spells: Listening to a Landscape of Voices.

The children in the group recorded themselves reading a spell-poem from The Lost Spells book.

The group was then taken to Walltown Country Park, where they spent time outside doing arts and crafts and exploring the site, before relaxing in the forest school space listening to The Lost Spells being read outside, close to nature as intended.