November 1st - Forest Schooling comes to Liddells

Eilidh approached us a while ago with the possibility of running Forest Schooling on Liddells. This chimed with our desire to offer the land to children so that they could experience nature and the outdoors.

This very first opportunity was for Eilidh to bring a focus group of children she knew so that she could try out ideas and test what might be possible.

The day was brilliant! Eilidh had obviously worked tremendously hard in the morning, bringing in equipment and preparing the site.

She arrived in the afternoon with five children (aged between two and eleven) and two supporting adults.

We met the party at the bottom gate. Clare said that she would love them to ask as many questions as possible and that there were no silly questions however they might be given silly answers.

The children were given maps and invited to find out where they were and then were asked to make their own way to the bee hives. A pause to guesstimate how many bees might be in the hives - far more than they first guessed!

On to the Pit Wood and a challenge to find objects that they wouldn’t expect to find in woodland. Eilidh had imaginatively chosen a collection including a candle, a plastic bottle, a light switch and a paint brush. She then invited them to think about what they had found and the implications of their findings.

Next they went off in pairs with a colour chart and a bag, and an invitation to find things that matched the colours. No paint brushes needed. The children had little difficulty in foraging items that fitted. Ethan managed to find a ladybird which was obligingly red.

Next everyone joined in the task of filling a trug full to the brim with leaves within a limited time.

Then it was time for a walk and explore. Almost immediately we saw one of the purposes of Forest Education fulfilled as each child in turn found a way of climbing on to a fallen sycamore trunk that straddles the path through the valley. The delight was in seeing children free to challenge themselves and try out an activity that, in other circumstances, might have been considered too risky. Not one of the adults had suggested they climb on to the trunk. John has captured the event in his video which is at the end of this post.

From the bridge to the spring and a bit of history about that. Up through the wood into the Orchard, noticing some wildflowers still hanging on on the way - Pink Campion and Herb Robert. On the way the children noticed the buzzard’s nest, the squirrel traps, and we pointed out the dead Silver Birch that is a favourite of the Nuthatches and Woodpeckers. It appeared compulsory to insert a finger into some of the holes. Just before the Orchard Clare pointed out the thrush anvil where there were several empty snail shells.

Up to the Spoil Heaps and one eagle pair of eyes spotted a frog on the path. Returning to the Pit Wood and the Story-telling Circle, it was time for refreshments.

Back to work and pictures and collages to be made from the colour collections, caterpillars to be made by threading some of the gathered leaves on to pipe cleaners. The rest of the leaves were used to bury Eilidh, which seemed a tad unfair after the lovely time she had created.

Then the fire had to be built in the pit Eilidh had prepared. She sent the children off to collect kindling which prompted a new interpretation of Green Gym as some of them discovered that a pile of brash made an excellent trampoline. They each had a practice using a flint spark ignitor and then it was time to light the fire. It was soon hot enough to toast the marshmallows.

After quite a sticky few minutes, it was time to douse the fire, clear up and make sure there was not a trace left behind.

The last part of the adventure was a walk past the ponds, over the stepping stones, up the Crag and an opportunity to meet and feed the ponies. At this point John went off to get the car and Anna was prompted to enquire, “Where has the farmer gone?” Back to the gate and before saying our goodbyes, Clare told the story she had promised on arrival of why we had called the land Liddells.