Stone to Steel is an interesting project we have just come across. Its part of the Steel Valley Project in the Upper Don Valley which has been going since 1988. Its essentially a countryside management project, but that does not do it justice, there is a lot to it.
As they say on their nicely designed website and literature 'Stone to Steel is a project celebrating 10,000 years of human history in the Upper Don Valley'.
It is a partnership between the Steel Valley Project, South Yorkshire Forest Partnership and Sheffield City Council that covers an area of approximately ten square miles around the Don and Little Don river valleys up to the border of the Peak District and Barnsley. It encompasses the towns and villages of Stocksbridge, Deepcar, Wharncliffe Side, Oughtibridge, Bolsterstone, Midhopestones and Grenoside.
We went to walk one of their trails and it was lovely countryside and enjoyable for that alone, but the interpretation added to the walk and the accompanying kids liked the way it was done too. Projects like this will inevitably be under pressure with the cuts to public funding, but the new Localism Bill and Big Society initiatives will offer opportunities if they can organise themselves to take them. The project has already made a lasting impact, but it would be great to think it can find ways of building on the solid foundations.
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