EASINGWOLD OUTDOOR CENTRE ('THE DAWNEY')
Easingwold Outdoor Centre (The Dawney) is a wonderful facility waiting to welcome you.
Easingwold Outdoor Centre compriseas a large activity field, camping field and woodland area, with a large car park. There is a campfire circle and a shooting range. The building has full disabled access, main hall, kitchen, office, shower and toilets with heating, lighting, hot water and a fully functioning kitchen. Tables and chairs are available in the main hall.
The Centre is owned and managed by 1st Easingwold Scout Group. It is available to hire all year round by other Scout Groups as well as Guides, youth and community groups, schools and families. There are some restrictive covenants in place due to neighbouring properties which may impact on some hire possibilities.
Easingwold Outdoor Centre is the home of the Dawney Eagles Explorer Scout Unit (Tuesday evenings, year round) and the 1st Easingwold Scout Troop (Wednesday evenings, year round). They are joined in summer months by the Cubs (Mondays) and Beavers (Tuesdays).
BOOKING FEES
Please contact us to discuss. The Dawney can also be hired via www.hallshire.com and www.venues4hire.com. Or just email us via the Booking enquiry form and we'll endeavour to meet your hire needs at this fantastic rural facility.
There is a shooting range and the Group has archery equipment and qualified staff to hire and for tuition (2-3 hours) – please request this at time of booking.
Target shooting facility - please request this at time of booking.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Dawney is located on a flood plain and is sited on eight acres of pasture and woodland surrounded by farmland (mainly sheep and arable). It enjoys a wonderful natural, secluded setting with an abundance of wildlife including a wide variety of birds, insects, bats and plenty of rabbits! The land generally drains well and is Shires Beck runs through it. There are very many trees which are assessed and managed annually to ensure their ongoing health and our safety. There is fencing around the water course but the land does slip occasionally when wet, so we ask users to be extra careful near the watercourse edges and not to trespass onto the banks. The building is served by a septic tank which must not be accessed at any time.
Mobile coverage is usually fine in the area but no Wi-Fi is available.
Risk assessments must be carried out for all activities
This is not an exhaustive list, but we hope it supports hirers' own risk assessments.
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Environment: Weather extremes such as flooding, sun burn/stroke, wind burn (this is often forgotten)
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Insects: Bites & stings
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Flora & trees: Skin irritants, falling branches, trip hazards
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Camp fires: Burns, risk of fire getting out of control
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Water: Drowning, poisoning
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Indoor facility: Kitchen hygiene and safety, toilet/shower hygiene & safety
History
The site has been continuously used as a children’s activity and camping area since 1978 when Easingwold Town Council granted a lease to 1st Easingwold Scout Group for one acre of land. The original cabin was erected in 1979. It was formerly in Easingwold’s New Inn Yard and is believed to date from the 1930s. It was used by the Ministry of Food and later became Easingwold’s labour exchange. It was donated to the Scouts who secured planning consent to erect it at The Dawney with the addition of a toilet and washroom area.
In 2010, a public meeting in Easingwold backed a proposal to improve young people's access to the outdoors by opening the site to schools and other organised youth groups. The Easingwold Outdoor Centre Project was established with support from Easingwold Town Council, Hambleton District Council, North Yorkshire County Council and a number of local businesses to create a not-for-profit, safe, versatile rural space where supervised, pre-booked groups of young people could enjoy outdoor activities, education and camping. The project was adopted as a priority by the Easingwold and Villages Community Forum. More than 300 under-18s and 85 teachers and youth group leaders responded to a consultation exercise conducted with help from Hambleton District Council to determine what facilities would be needed to achieve the project’s aims. Quiet, sustainable outdoor space, modern toilet/wash facilities and renewable energy sources in the cabin were key requirements. Funding from Hambleton District Council, North Yorkshire County Council, Easingwold District Scouts and a local benefactor was used to purchase and fence four acres of adjacent woodland and grassland and to plant several hundred trees.
In 2017, surveys were carried out to assess the structural integrity of the old building, ready for refurbishment. Unfortunately, surveys indicated the presence of asbestos and structural failure making refurbishment economically unviable. The toilet facilities were also wholly inadequate. A full rebuild was the only way forward to save this wonderful facility and 1st Easingwold Scout Group rose to the challenge of fundraising £250,000 to secure a new indoor facility. Despite the arrival of Covid-19, Grainger Timber Frames of Ripon created the new build, which opened in 2022.
The Centre is used by up to 200 children per week in supervised groups of 10 to 40 children at a time for a mixture of daytime use and overnight camps, predominantly between April and September. The site has been well used by local nursery schools, primary schools, forest schools, Scout and Guide groups, cadets, Duke of Edinburgh's Award groups, Boys Brigade, North Yorkshire Pupil Referral Unit and North Yorkshire Police.