MORE teenagers will be taught traditional rural skills such as dry stone walling, thanks to a charitable grant.

The Ernest Cook Trust has given a £6,152 grant to the Outdoor and Sustainability Education Specialists (Oases) to teach 14- to 16-year-olds techniques including stone walling, hedge laying and coppicing, part-funding its educational programme.

Oases, based in Esh Winning, County Durham, will deliver courses with Sunderland-based Community Environmental Educational Developments (CEED).

An Oases spokesman said: “We feel that this introduction to sustainable countryside practices is important as these skills, crafts and knowledge will otherwise slowly disappear.”

The Ernest Cook Trust is one of the country’s leading educational charities and owns 22,000 acres across five counties. It was founded by Ernest Cook, grandson of tourism pioneer Thomas Cook.