Summer programme now open Event bookings
It’s easy to see play as a luxury – something we squeeze in when time allows. But the truth is, the absence of play is one of the most serious challenges facing children today. Unstructured outdoor play has declined dramatically and anxiety has increased. Play is not only about joy. It is about agency. Children choose their own challenges, make their own rules, and resolve their own conflicts, they build their very capacities that make them emotionally strong and socially competent. The power of play lies in freedom. Outdoor play naturally restores balance – to attention, mood and energy. It lets the nervous system return to regulation. It helps children thrive. – Marina Robb (The Outdoor Teacher Ltd.)
Making a water dish for insects
Mud kitchen fun
Group of Forest Schoolers
Children planting a new cherry tree
New pond October 25
Whittling October 25
Even in the very hot weather we can thrive in the cool of the deep woods, plus water games to cool off
Every day in the summer programme is a bit different. We include a discussion on how we all have a role in caring for nature.
“One of the things I value most about outdoor learning is that children experience challenge in real and manageable ways.
A fire will not always light first time, a den collapses and has to be rebuilt, or a plan changes because of the weather. Children have to adapt, rethink and try again. From the outside, these moments can seem small, but they are often where some of the deepest learning happens.
Children learn patience. They learn persistence. They learn how to cope when something does not go to plan. They learn how to ask for help, work together and keep going even when something feels frustrating.”
– Sarah Blackwell, author and leader in Outdoor Learning and Forest School
We run forest school sessions every school holiday.
“It was awesome!” – Child
A truly wonderful place for children, all year round! – Parent
“Education is not a matter of getting facts and sewing them within brains, it is an attitude of mind that you teach children to find out for themselves” – David Attenborough
Research by the National Trust (Finding Nature | Nature Connectedness Research Blog by Prof. Miles Richardson) has helped people to recognise a love of nature (nature connectedness) and being engaged in nature in simple ways leads to better wellbeing and pro-environmental behaviours. That is what we can achieve.