Less than a month after its launch, the new Northumberland National Park Authority website has picked up its first accolade.
The new ‘visitor-friendly’ website showcases the stunning Northumberland National Park; its places, activities and events has been award a glowing five star review from Web User Magazine.
One of the UK's best-selling internet magazines, Web User Magazine offers simple-to-follow internet and computing advice alongside authoritative hardware, software and website reviews.
The review stated, “This marvellous site promoting the delights of the Northumberland National Park provides all the maps and info you need. Discover things to do, such as the Hethpool Wild Goat Walk; places to go, including Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall; and where to stay, from castles to campsites.”
The new website is the result of over twelve months hard work from Northumberland National Park Authority staff and their partner, Newcastle based digital agency, Indigo Multimedia.
The new site has completely rebuilt to act as a digital information hub, providing visitors with information about everything from planning a trip to what they can get involved in whilst they’re visiting the area.
The website also offers a range of new features including weather updates and a unique ‘Your Park’ service which provides visitors a build-your-own itinerary feature. From the Cheviot Hills to Coquetdale; Hadrian’s Wall country to Redesdale, the site connects the many breath-taking locations across the Park in a simple, easy-to-use format which will open the door to discovery for visitors.
Duncan Wise, Visitor Development Manager at Northumberland National Park, said:
“We are delighted at the response we’ve had to our new website and over the moon that Web User has awarded us five stars for the redesign of our website.”
“Our staff and our partners, Indigo Multimedia, have put a tremendous amount of effort into the redesign over the last twelve months. They have worked hard to ensure the new website is not only easily accessible and compatible with today’s modern tablet and smartphone technology but also incredibly useful to our visitors.”
Stuart Evans, Head of Corporate Services for Northumberland National Park Authority continued,
“Our intention with this project was to offer people visiting the National Park everything they need whilst ‘on the go’. “
“Seeing this highlighted by the review is fantastic. Web User has a strong consumer voice and it is hugely rewarding to know that they find the end result worthy of their maximum five star rating."
The new website has also been designed to integrate more effectively with Northumberland National Park’s social media sites, including its popular Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram feeds. Visitors will be able to discover the latest on all the exciting projects that the National Park is currently undertaking, including the flagship Sill project, a national landscape discovery centre in the heart of Hadrian’s Wall country, which will help people learn about and explore Northumberland’s finest natural landscapes
The website was designed and developed by Newcastle firm, Indigo Multimedia. Indigo's Digital Director, Andrew Graney, says of the project:
"We were delighted with this commission from NNPA because the whole project is rooted in an ambition to create a digital gateway to one of the most beautiful areas in the UK, and to inspire people to visit and support the local economy. At Indigo we put the user at the centre of the process and focus on creating genuine engagement opportunities. The NNPA website is a showcase for digital engagement. It posed creative and technical challenges which the Indigo team, I'm proud to say, took on and met with gusto."
The development of the website doesn’t end there. The Northumberland National Park Authority are partnering with Google throughout the month of May on their Trekker Programme.
Authority staff and volunteers will capture interactive 360° imagery of the Northumberland National Park including Hadrian’s Wall and the Pennine Way. The images will be added to the Google Street View service; making these unique and remote locations accessible to all.