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Twelth night tradition wassailing... Wassatt? No, not what is that! But yes! What is 'wassailing? Have you ever heard of the old Pagan tradition, originally performed on 12th night, of Wassailing?  Practised for centuries throughout Britain on Twelfth Night,  the act of Wassailing occurs around two weeks after the Winter Solstice, which is normally around the 21st December. Festivities of merriment and joy would commence during these dark weeks, culminating in a tradition of 'Wassailing,' to end the

Hilaire pierre rene belloc 1870 - 1953 Born in Paris on July 28th, 1870, to an English Mother and a French Father, Hilaire Pierre Rene Belloc, is not a name that many people have heard of. But take yourselves off to either Slindon, nr Arundel or Shipley, nr Horsham and you may well find some signs of his existence... After moving to the safety of England, as a baby, to escape the Franco-Prussian War between July 1870 and May 1871

Virtual Forest School sessions What does one do when all around you changes? How do we cope without some sort of normality? Where can we go to meet our friends? During the COVID-19 pandemic of March 2020, our lives, sense of purpose and priorities were changed, when a microscopic bug, crept into our livelihoods and halted the way we lived. Being in lockdown, stuck indoors for hours on end and being cut off from businesses, no access to family

30 day challenge during may Go wild or mild... During the month of May, I thought that it would be great for the children to have a focus and a challenge each day, similar to the 30 days wild that The Wildlife Trust runs every year. So, with that in mind, here is a list of challenges that I have compiled, with the idea of taking on one a day.  I will also be running this on Facebook, where

My 2017 January Although fairly slow to start, this year for business started off with four schools looking for Forest School sessions during the year and a number of enquiries about my ...Bespoke Birthday Bashes. The main event for January was continued rehearsals for the local village pantomime, where surprisingly I had been cast as one of the main roles! How, I don't know how or why, although it was the character part of the beast, in Beauty

The Ash tree (Fraxinus Excelsior), part of the Oleaceae family, is the third most common tree in Britain, and yet what do we know about this majestical tree of our woodland? The Ash Tree is known as the 'timber tree,' as it is not only a good wood for burning, but also an excellent wood for use in the timber trade, due to its renowned strength and flexibility. It is used extensively throughout the building business, due to these properties

founder of save the children Born in Shropshire on the 25th August, 1876, to Arthur and Tye, Eglantyne Jebb was the middle child of six in the family. A name you would remember really, if ever you stumbled upon it; but do you know who she was? Eglantyne Jebb was the fourth child of Arthur Trevor Jebb and Eglantyne Louisa Jebb, known to all as 'Tye.' Born during the reign of Queen Victoria, Eglantyne was brought up in a very

...or is it? If you were to look in an English Oxford dictionary, Junior edition, and look under 'A' for acorn, what do you think you would find...? Well, you wouldn't find the word or definition for an acorn, that's for sure... In 2015, around fifty 'nature' words were literally disconnected from the English Oxford Junior dictionary, in exchange for more 21st century savvy words, like attachment, blog and chat-room, instead of acorn, buttercup and conker. A

Well, we did it again... 60 children, 8 adults, 2 nights, 1 festival - The Wilderness Festival, Cornbury Park, Charlbury, nr Oxford, Oxfordshire. The weather was once again pretty kind to us, although setting up in the rain on Wednesday for some of us, questioned why we are mad enough to continue doing this. Thunderstorms and winds threatened us throughout the weekend, but thankfully someone was looking over us and they abated, moving on to some other poor, unsuspecting souls... Friday

Take a walk in the woods or go for a drive in the countryside during the month of May and into early June, and you cannot help but spot the white bunches of elder-flower heads dancing in the breeze. Don't take these minute little flowers for granted, as they offer so much and produce some wonderful foraged food, if you just spare a bit of time to collect them... Sometimes mistaken for the earlier flowering Rowan tree, the

Who was this john muir...? Born in Dunbar, Scotland on the 21st of April, 1838, John Muir was the third bairn of eight, who with his father, Daniel Muir and mother, Ann, (nee Gilrye) lived on the High Street, away from the raucous behaviour of the fisherfolk and the deprived conditions of the Victorian, Glaswegian streets. Daniel had extreme religious beliefs, which led him to convert to a hardline, evangelical, Presbyterianism way of life, where the family were subjected to

  Monty & Me...  Last week I decided it was time to conquer a challenge, that for some time I have been yearning to do; walk the entire South Downs Way; all 100 miles. Not wanting to experience this alone, I decided to take my faithful cocker spaniel 'Monty' with me, for albeit a rather long walkies...  31st March   eastbourne - alfriston  13 miles After spending the night in The Ebor Lodge, in Eastbourne, (http://www.eborlodge

2016 From the Ashes... would just like to say a huge thank you to all the children, parents, colleagues, volunteers, GAP students, schools and staff who have supported me once again throughout another great year. 2016 has seen me make new connections and been lucky enough to work in Bury CE School, Dorset House School, Great Ballard School, Little Laura's Nursery School, Rudgwick Primary School, Trafalgar School, as well as running my own sessions during the holidays at

Play structures... From the Ashes... last week, was very chuffed to be able to host its first ever adult training session, at its own site in Fittleworth. Eight Forest School Practitioners and myself,  joined forces with the one and only Jon Cree, chair of the Forest School Association, to learn and make play structures within my grounds in West Sussex.  The day started, as is fitting of any Forest School session, chatting around the warm fire

FREE From the hedgerow There surely is nothing better than making something for your store cupboard, from free fruits that you have foraged from the hedgerows... Well, this is exactly what I did. There is not a walk that goes by, without me collecting something on the way. It may be a feather, or a few sweet chestnuts, squirreled away in my pockets for toasting later or a mere leaf whose colours have caught my eye, but never do I

bats, bows & bunting What a way to end the summer of 2016... Last Thursday saw the first of hopefully many, Forest School sessions at Wakehurst Place, a National Trust garden just outside of Ardingly, West Sussex, that is also the home to the Millenium Seed Bank http://www.kew.org/visit-wakehurst/explore/attractions/millennium-seed-bank.  This weekend then culminated in a night in the woods at Wakehurst, ending the summer season in style with the

Walking along the hedgerow in search of rosehips, brambles and blackberries, it is easy to overlook the humble, fleshy red berries of the Hawthorn tree, known as haws, hanging around in abundance in little bunches, similar I suppose to those in Soho, but with a little more decorum and grace! The Hawthorn, (Crataegus Monogyna) gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon hagathorn, with haga meaning ‘hedge.’ The Common Hawthorn is a hardy deciduous species that

Wilderness Festival 2016 Last weekend I was privileged to be part of a team delivering kids' overnight camps, to 50+ children at the Wilderness Festival in Oxford. The weekend started with the team meeting up on Thursday to create the site and build friendships, before setting off into the festival to enjoy the sights for the evening, prior to our work beginning in the morning. Friday morning arrived and after a hearty breakfast of cereals and eggy bread we set

Deep in the middle of Ravenshill Woodland Reserve in Worcestershire, beneath the Hemlock Trees (Tsuga heterophllya), lies a small outfit practising the primitive side of bushcraft and natural survival skills and goes by the name of Native Awareness. Run by married couple James and Zara Watson and their trusty dog - Arthur, Native Awareness specialises in teaching the basic techniques of primitive survival and re-kindles the ancient ways of our ancestors in tracking and awareness. This year NativeAwareness celebrates their

Play 'All God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing humming gnats and invisible small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them.' John Muir - The Story of My Boyhood and Youth What is play? How can we describe play? To me, the very essence of the word 'play' embodies the pure indulgence of a spontaneous action that stumilates the soul. All children

Sirens & Fiddleheads... As I walk through the woodland, swathes of sapphire carpet lay before me, the sweet smell of spring in the air, accompanied by armies of green soldiers, standing with shoulders proud, their arms outstretched and their heads under helmets. The sapphire sirens serenade us whilst the forest fiddleheads forge through the undergrowth… To what am I referring you may ask; bluebells and ferns of course. Nestled in woodlands, hedgerows and clumped under trees, the smell that

From the Ashes... goes to The Elderflower Fields Festival... What an exciting weekend that was! Spending the weekend in my hammock is always a pleasure, especially when you share the event with great colleagues and meet a fabulous new bunch of children. Celebrating its 5th year, Elderflower Fields Festival was born in 2012 when a small group of friends decided that it would be really nice if there was a festival purely for families. Set amongst the beautiful woodland and

Walk into the woods during the month of May and you’ll be overpowered by the heady aroma that hits the back of your nostrils and greets your sensory system; the smell is just incredible and the look of ‘a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow,’ plays tricks with your mind. For which month are we in, when the forest floor looks like that of a winter’s morn? But stand awhile and look closely at

How do we measure intelligence? Are we ignorant if we cannot answer the questions on University Challege when asked by Jeremy Paxman and should we be laughed at if we do not understand something that is new to us? Intelligences are multifaceted and complex and contain many elements that encompass a set of skills particular to the individual... It is the job of the educator to focus in on the strengths of the individual and encourage them to pursue