HUNDREDS of children learnt about the rock n roll of geology at a special event in Teesdale.

More than 200 children from nine schools in County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria cooked up their own rock recipes at Bowlees Visitor Centre near Middleton-in-Teesdale, near Barnard Castle.

The event was part of the Northern Rocks Festival, the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnerships annual celebration of the areas geology.

At Ready Steady Rock!, the theme for the day combined baking and geology, with the pupils dividing into groups which took part in a series of varied activities, including concocting recipes to make different kinds of rocks and visiting nearby Gibsons Cave, where they could ask puppets about the layered landscape.

They also met a 1950s quarryman to find out what he was eating for lunch, and made their own fossils to take away.

The schools who attended the sessions are signed up to the North Pennines Champions scheme, set up by the AONB Partnership to offer schools travel grants to enable children to get out of the classroom and into the countryside.

The Partnerships Education Officer, Emma Boor said: "With the North Pennines Champions scheme, were encouraging schools to come to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and discover what a fantastic outdoor learning resource it is. Ready Steady Rock! is a big thank you to the schools and the children who have made the first year of the scheme such a success."