Building a Sustainable Future
Our Key Areas of Focus
At Kynren, we are committed to playing our part in improving the environment. As a charity with education and conservation objectives, we want to make sure we leave this world better than the state in which it was found.
Our site in Bishop Auckland was formerly a golf course and, rather than an intrusive commercial development taking over the natural environment, we are proud to have sensitively developed it over a ten-year period. From planting native trees and hedges, to ditch and woodland creation, our beautiful environment is one of the things we are most proud of, and we will continue this care and sensitivity throughout the development and operation of Kynren – The Storied Lands.
Across our site we care for and appreciate the natural environment and the native wildlife that calls Kynren their home. In addition to our core visitor areas, we have 150 acres of protected wildlife habitat. We actively encourage wildlife to take up residence here by installing owl, bat and bird boxes, and have recently repaired a riparian corridor. This 15-metre wildlife highway lines either side of the River Wear, allowing a variety of wildlife to travel through our site.
We embed sustainable practices across all our operations and developments, from sourcing local supplies to reducing single-use plastics. Our teams all work with a shared mission of doing good for our natural world.
We have recently replaced the lights within our productions with LED lightbulbs to increase our energy efficiency, and constantly strive to implement the best practices and sustainable technologies. This includes innovative schemes such as collecting rainwater, installing green roofs on our structures to better insulate them – thus decreasing their energy consumption – and supporting our local wildlife.
Within Kynren – An Epic Tale of England we have a large cast of animals – perhaps the real stars of the show – which includes a variety of rare breeds:
- A grey Shire horse, Cosmo, one of only 200 left in the world (that’s rarer than the Giant Panda)
- Wensleydales and Ryelands join our flock of sheep, both British breeds that are considered rare and minority breeds, respectively.
- We have several Kladrubers among our performance horses, a Czech breed of horse considered among one of the oldest in the world. There are only estimated to be between 1,200 and 1,800 left.
These animals are ambassadors for their species, a key part of our educational work and receive the highest possible standards of love and care.
Kynren – The Storied Lands will include The Lost Feather, an incredible free-flying bird show with a conservation story at its centre. The birds in the show will only demonstrate natural behaviour and will be housed in state-of-the-art aviaries. Our bird team staff include world-leading experts in bird husbandry and conservation, and will be working closely with our natural environment, native wildlife, staff, visitors and volunteers to ensure that Kynren continues to operate sustainably.
We are developing programmes centred around The Lost Feather that will include conservation projects and education work, both here at Kynren, across the North East and around the world.
We cannot wait to share more of our plans as Kynren – The Storied Lands develops and introduce the innovative ways in which every audience member can help!