The woodland at Gore Burn Nature Reserve has provided pupils at nearby St Godric's Primary School, in Wheatley Hill, with hours of fun after it was transformed by District of Easington council's coast and countryside volunteer rangers.

Pupils have officially named the outdoor education area Nettle Wood, because of the spiky weeds that lurk beyond the pathway.

The pupils have learned that nettles are a good habitat for butterflies.

The area was officially opened by Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson. Chris Duncan, who teaches Year 5 and Year 6, said: "The children can now use the area for various activities because of the walkways that have been created.

"We show them various different plant and animal life in the wood, we've planted flowers and some of the children have even acted out plays in there."

The council team have so far created a wetland area to increase amount and diversity of wildlife, a footpath using Christmas tree chippings, cleared areas and erected fences, built a bird-feeding station using dead trees, carried out litter picks, trimmed trees and plants and removed damaged trees.

They are currently working on installing a boardwalk which will link the pathways.

This should be completed within the next four to six weeks.

The council has also provided funding for signs featuring information on different trees, plants and animals. These will eventually be positioned around the site.

The volunteers will continue to visit the site on a regular basis to trim back the nettles and other plants and will also be working on new ideas for the site.

Mark Frain, District of Easington council coast and countryside ranger, said: "Our volunteers take part in a wide range of projects but each one usually involves only a specific type of work.

"This project, however, has been unusual because it's given them chance to take on so many different challenges in one area.

"They absolutely love the site and have really enjoyed working on it, although they still have lots of ideas of what else they can do there."