The Meadow Barns

The barns and sheds of this unique centre sit at the heart of a small hamlet, called Penpell. The name dates back to 1196 and is Cornish for ‘Distant Height’ … a quick glance at the slider photos will quickly show what an apt title this is, given those coastal views that take your breath away.

For many visitors over the past 6 years, the first element of interest has been the Grand Design-type project, which saw the owner-occupier, Caroline Stephenson, renew her barns following ambitious Eco Build principles, between 2017 and 2019. Her story provides many examples for future ‘Climate Hope’.

Equally fascinating, though less obvious, is the connection with mining, going way back 4000 years!

Penpell was first a centre for tin streaming, then iron excavation and later housed workers for one of the most productive copper mines in the world. This heritage of Local Industries has underpinned Caroline’s recent education work in Science or STEM and adds a further dimension to her constant search for solutions to the challenges faced today by people and the planet.

Times Change … and Meadow Barns is changing too

Previously we offered School Visits

Approaching the end of 2025, schools and businesses face big challenges: –

• Staff budgets have shrunk, staff numbers reduced
• Demands on staff time are greater, as schools also aim to help alleviate family/social issues
• Transport budgets have shrunk, reducing the number of trips
• Red tape (here specifically Local Authority Health & Safety) has reached an impossible level   

Struggling with these issues and probably many others too,

Flambards Folded

Dairyland Disappeared

And the Shipwreck Centre Sank without Trace

All those lost opportunities to learn about local history and heritage have led Caroline and her team to conduct a review. They say Meadow Barns Must not Melt away into the Mists of Time! Too much has gone into creating this amazing place for Climate Hope. During the Review they looked closely at the revised National Curriculum for primary age and saw a welcome mention of greater engagement with Climate Education. But presumably this will not be coming into action until September 2026 at the earliest and even then, a lot of what Meadow Barns offers may not be deemed essential. It will be brilliant if children learn how to make a home that is well insulated and has the minimum reliance on fossil fuels, but is that a likely outcome? And brilliant if it makes simple and clear how to live with a light footprint on the planet. Meadow Barns team will be ready if it happens, however in the meantime they are going to offer learning in a New Way, based around Knowledge Captured in Conversations, and served up with many added outdoor, creative and dramatic elements, often weaving in music too.

Here, for your contemplation are some pages of the Catalogue that will be available in full from January 2026. If the topics catch your interest please also check the options for accessing materials Entirely Free, Yours, for a Fee (modest) or working with partners to deliver a Grand Ceremony 4 Climate Hope.

CONVERSATIONS, STORIES, MUSIC and EQUIPMENT

Caroline first started catching conversations outdoors during the Lockdowns of 2020. For some people, it was a time of welcome freedom from the normal routines of school and work, and traffic. But for others there was deep grief, loneliness and trauma. Caroline caught both moods, asking gentle and careful questions and recording with the Hi Q Free app on her phone, She realised at once that such emotional content would need to be treated with the utmost care and respect. The memories are like precious family jewels freely given in a spirit of trust, so – with a few exceptions – she will not be sharing stories of that type digitally. They should never appear by accident on social media, or even worse be sucked up and regurgitated by AI. For protection, therefore, you may only access content on old mobile phones, and agree that the stories and songs will never be transmitted digitally …

All users of stories & songs must sign an agreement, to guarantee they accept this rule.

Ready Steady Go – starting January 2026

On Sunday 4th January from 2 to 4 pm there will be a launch event at the 1st Par, St Blazey and Fowey Scout Hall, 15 Moreland Road, PL24 2PA. This will be part of our Development Trial for a Story Walk from Par station, which hopefully will be completed and printed for Easter 2026. Here is the page outlining content and inviting locals to come along and contribute. Also, please bring an old mobile phone to help test the concept of loading stories for future listening and some cash for the refreshments.

Also ready for Easter will be the Stories from Luxulyan Station, which may be borrowed in a similar fashion, thanks to Kay and her team, at the Village Shop.

Full STEAMS Ahead Stories for Families

The Story Walks are predominantly focused on gathering precious local history memories. But Full STEAMS Ahead involves 6 sets of different Learning Conversations about the past, present and future of Mills and Mines, in mid Cornwall. The idea of this is that a small group or family will sign up and attend sessions at The Meadow Barns or partner venues, such as the recent events with Treasure Hunts offered in Bodmin, Caradon and Luxulyan. Quite often these events are offered Entirely Free, so long as participants pledge to become Ambassadors, passing on the knowledge to others in their own lives or on social media.

Conversations can be Entirely Free

Spur of the moment encounters, just ‘shooting the breeze’ as you might say … can be the most joyful moment in the day, or even sometimes the whole week! And no one expects to charge for a casual conversation! Here is the very best example from Autumn 2025, caught on a chilly evening awaiting a train at Par Station, when the Polkerris Scout Group arrived to view a new display.

The experience of catching this conversation, recorded on the phone, took less than ten minutes. But then the follow-on editing and transcription into a Word document with illustrations took over 4 hours to achieve.

When this kind of work is undertaken, or any other that involves lots of hours or expenditure it can no longer be Entirely Free. It will be Yours, for a Modest Fee.

To access further information on the Stories, Songs and local Walks available please start by taking this link and then explore the following sections:-

Stories & Songs > Entirely Free

Who do we ask to pay a Fee?

And who might qualify for a Giant Ceremony?

The essential element for a successful event of this nature, such as we were able to deliver in 2023 and 2024, is a group enterprise involving many partners. A little help will be needed financially e.g. a local councillor offering a grant or other suitable funding sources, but not lots. As you see at this Truro Chinese New Year event, it is the enthusiasm and energy of many groups, of all different ages and backgrounds, which can produce a really heart-warming Ceremony 4 Climate Hope at the heart of a community. Thanks, this time, to the Truro councillor, Rob Nolan, Truro BID and Salt Projects who coordinated the Pydar Pop Ups programme.

If you are inspired by this and wonder about hosting such an event, firstly please view all the films on this YouTube playlist, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL19dB7VxtVIEQXmJ_tp5y8YjqbojBUHC then send an email of introduction and questions to enquiry@themeadowbarns.co.uk.