Come to the FAIRY TALE WOOD

Once upon a time . . .

Wakey wakey! The blue bells have rung. Spring time is here! Time to wake up!

Spring has sprung and the fairies are waking up

On the run up to Midsummer Eve we're guiding the young and young at heart into the fairy woods.

We need your help to return our fairy tales back to their own land before its too late.

Will you:

Try the 3 bears porridge?

Retrieve 3 blind mice and a flower fairy?

Reunite the Big Bad Wolf with his Granny?

 Find the 3 not so little pigs and build them a stick house?

Climb a hill with Jack and Jill?

Blow a frog a kiss and turn him into a prince?

Courtesy and bow for the King and Queen?

Meet a fire breathing dragon?

Join us exploring the woods for a 2 hour magical hunt with stories and games. Discover the magic of the natural world before settling down for some treats and hot dogs (sorry 3 little pigs) cooked on the campfire.

Price £10 per child - Discounts for siblings, Woodland Trust Members, etc.

9:45am meet up for porridge

10:00 set off

12 noon campfire lunch

SATURDAY 16th May - New Moss Woods nr Glazebrook

SUNDAY 17th May - Lumb Brook Valley, Appleton

SATURDAY 30th May - Gorse Covert Mounds, Birchwood

Events for May

Its a chilly start to May but soon it'll be lovely and warm (hopefully).

EVERY MONDAY - Including Bank Hols. Appleton Forest School 10am at Lumb Brook Valley. Sessions are at least an hour but often stretch on to midday if we get into things (which we usually do). This is an ongoing series of child led sessions. Recently we've done some tool use with under 5s, explored, identified trees, stream walked, made hazel hurdles, bean poles and more. Its very organic and often involves participants influencing what happens at future sessions. PRICE £5 per child with sibling discounts, etc.

Sunday 10th May - PRIVATE GRUFFALO BOOKING at Gorse Covert Mounds. Get in touch if you'd like your own personalised session for family or friends.

FAIRY TALE WOOD Saturday 16th May 10am-12 noon New Moss Wood, Glazebrook. The 3 bears will be serving porridge to set us up for our adventure . Join us as we wander the woods in search of fairy tales and try making a house of sticks before the big bad wolf blows them down.  Followed by hot dogs (sorry 3 little pigs) cooked on a campfire. PRICE £10 per child with sibling discounts, etc.

FAIRY TALE WOOD Sunday 17th May 10am-12 noon Lumb Brook Valley, Appleton.

FREE MINIBEAST HUNT Saturday 23rd May - Exclusively for our Fairy Forest School Facebook friends. All you have  to do is like, follow and share our facebook page. More details on facebook.

Don't forget our Appleton  Forest School for the BANK HOLIDAY.

HALF TERM - TUESDAY 26th May - NEOLITHIC VILLAGE at Gorse Covert Mounds. Our favourite session so far exploring nature and building dens. Campfire Lunch Included. PRICE £10 per child with sibling discounts, etc. See our previous blog here.

HALF TERM - WEDNESDAY 27th May- BEAR HUNT at New Moss Wood, Glazebury. 9:45am Porridge, 10am set off and teddy bears picnic for lunch with campfire cooking. PRICE £10 per child with sibling discounts, etc. See our previous blog here.

HALF TERM -THURSDAY 28th May - WET n WILD. A nature walk along the length of the Dingle for adults and/or children. You will get wet. 10am (lasts up to 2 hours) PRICE £5 each.

HALF TERM - FRIDAY 29th May - FOREST SCHOOL FRIDAY. A bit of everything! Using tools, dens, camp fires, nature.  Great for those thinking of taking up forest school. Great for home educators or teachers, nurseries, etc. thinking of introducing forest school or families just wanting to get outside and do stuff! What is forest school? Find out here.

 FAIRY TALE WOOD Saturday 30th May -noon Gorse Covert Mounds. The 3 bears will be serving porridge to set us up for our adventure . Join us as we wander the woods in search of fairy tales and try making a house of sticks before the big bad wolf blows them down.  Followed by hot dogs (sorry 3 little pigs) cooked on a campfire. PRICE £10 per child with sibling discounts, etc.

WET WILD WALK Saturday 18th April

Walk the length of the Dingle Stream

 See the Dingle from a whole new perspective

Inspired by a wet day on New Zealand's Inland Pack Track we offer this opportunity to . . .

WALK DOWN THE STREAM

No path. Just water, rock, mud and sand.

Great for adults and children seeking a wet wild adventure.

Adventure

We're proud and excited to travel Lumb Brook Valley from the valley floor giving a unique perspective of the woodland wildlife.

We'll give you the opportunity to go under the bridge "In at the Deep End". You'll stoop under branches and wade through pools, climb over rocks and slide down mini waterfalls. You'll find the best route to travel down streams with minimal impact to the stream and find the safest route.

Nature

We'll examine the bank and look for evidence of bank voles or other wildlife to make sure we leave no trace and we'll look into the water to see what lives there. You'll learn about the life of a stream and how it affects the woodland around it.

Wet

You will get wet. The maximum depth we can go to is 0.5m - that's knee length on most adults. You'll be sitting in the stream, lowering yourself over slippy rocks and you'll need to get over worrying about getting wet feet.

Safety

We can only take 6 at a time on this journey because we'll want you to tread where we tread until you start to recognise hazards and treat them appropriately. We avoid log jams as these have the potential to trap ankles and there are overhanging branches which well stoop under or if safe climb over.

The water is cold but not that cold. You need to trap water to keep warm so its a good idea to wear thermals if you have them. There is the occasional bramble so long sleeves and trousers are important.  Waterproofs help keep the wind off but don't expect to stay dry. We'll bring a thermos of warm squash for a much needed injection of heat.

The water isn't clean but it isn't exactly dirty either. As with all open water in the UK there exists the chance for contamination. The stream is mainly source from agricultural (crop rather than animal) groundwater. There exists as with all open water the potential for Weil's disease so as a precaution we advise covering any cuts with a waterproof plaster and washing hands after the event and before eating.

Wellies are not so good because they'll soon be full of water, have poor grip, rub and will stick in the mud - best wear old shoes that you don't mind getting wet or muddy. Old trainers or walking boots are best. Shoes change shape when they're wet so wear a thin inner sock and thicker outer socks. Waders if you have them are great.

The stream rises and falls with rainfall. After heavy rain the stream can rise and flow increase but we'll never go deeper than 0.5m and we'll guide you round any dodgy bits.

You'll begin your journey from Green Lane. Meet us there or we'll walk you to the start from our usual meeting place on Dingle Lane Bridge.

PRICE: Introductory offer £5 per person for an exciting wet and wild walk including refreshments.

Contact us to book.

  

New Moss Wood GRUFFALO Forest School Tues 14th April

Read the story

Meet the characters

Build their homes

Everyone loves the Gruffalo wherever he goes!

Everyone loves the Gruffalo and why not. He's awesome. No doubt you've been on Delamere's Gruffalo Trail (pictured) which is well worth a look and free to walk round. There's also other Gruffalo sites dotted around at Forestry Commission sites.

At Fairy Forest School we love the Gruffalo and give a different experience to Delamere and one that's perhaps closer to home.

We keep groups to about 12 children. We journey through the wood introducing the characters and reading extracts of the story and build their homes on the way.

As a company that subscribes to the Forest School ethos we use the story to encourage children to explore, identify trees and the natural world about them, build and be creative, learn to their own pace, help each other and even experience using tools.

We finish off with fire warmed Nutella banana treats whilst Mouse nibbles his hazelnut.

Why not join us? Price £10 per child (£8 discounted) for over 2 hours of Gruffalo fun including nibbles.

Wet Bears

Yesterdays Bear Hunt at Gorse Covert Mounds was a challenge particularly to set up due to winds and torrential rain.

However as is often the case, if you spend enough time outside then the weather changes. The wind died down a bit and we even got some blue skies. We got to splash in puddles and get a bit muddy so thank you rain!

This was our first bear hunt at Gorse Covert and we went all over the site often leaving the path and entering wilder areas. Gorse Covert has a wet wood area mainly full of willow, a sloping hill and also a mossland with encroaching birch - so lots to see.

As well as our crew of regular bears we also came across a frog and 2 hedgehogs. Before our fire safety talk and cooking some hotdogs and roasting marshmallows.

If you're thinking darn it I've missed out then DON'T PANIC! We have another bear hunt planned on Saturday 11th April at New Moss Wood near Cadishead. This is a wilder darker wood.

10,000BC NEOLITHIC VILLAGE

Can you build a shelter?

Start a fire, keep it going and cook on it?

COME AND JOIN US at our site at Gorse Covert Mounds on WEDNESDAY 8th APRIL we'll be teaching you and your youngsters to survive and experience a day in the life of our ancestors.

Great for all ages and families wanting to relive our dim and distant past and spend a day outside in the Easter Hols. 

10 am: Meet at Gorse Covert Mounds Car park - walk to site and test your tree identification.

10:30am Come up with a plan for the village, decent den demo and get building. 

11:30am Gather wood and try your hand at building a fire with a flint and steel Bear Grylls style. 

12 noon Its time to cook those mammoth burgers (well beef anyway) and have some food.

Price is just £10 per child including food. See our discount policy for siblings, Woodland Trust Members etc.

Contact Rawdon 07799 321849 or email rawdon@fairyforestschool.com

BEAR HUNT'S BACK

We had such as great time on the BEAR HUNT at Appleton we're going to repeat it. Only this time we'll be looking for our fuzzy friends on  SATURDAY MORNINGS and across the Warrington area so we get even more people to experience the magic of Fairy Forest School.

Meet our tartan McBear family for some porridge at 9:45am before setting off into the deep dark wood to rescue our bears who've wandered off in search of honey. Expect a wild experience crossing bogs and streams as these bears have a real sense of misadventure - best wear waterproofs and wellies! Then at midday we'll get our our campfire going and have some sausages in a bun to celebrate at our TEDDY BEARS PICNIC.

All this for only £10 per child for 3 hours of fun including food! 

AND if you bring a friend we'll give you another place for FREE!

Please book because spaces are limited.

Call Rawdon 07799 321849 or email rawdon@fairyforestschool.com

SATURDAY 21st MARCH will be at Lumb Brook Valley in Appleton.

SATURDAY 28th MARCH will be at Gorse Covert Mounds in Birchwood.

SATURDAY 11th APRIL will be at New Moss Wood in Cadishead.

Like and Follow the FAIRY FOREST SCHOOL Facebook page to Meet the Bears!

Dates for your diary up to EASTER

Great for parents and children of all ages. More info to follow which we'll be posting over the next few days so you aren't overloaded.

We've been asked to repeat HOLIDAY CLUBS experiences which were a great success at half term so get in touch if you want a private function catered to your club members for over Easter.

Customers have had so much fun they've also asked us to do BIRTHDAY PARTIES. We're happy to be part of a big day but we always put the site and other users as a big priority so spaces are limited. We've decided to only have one party at each of our sites per month to avoid some of the issues the Woodland Trust has had with party  companies using their sites - we'll keep an eye on the situation, review it and see how it goes.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Every Monday 10am APPLETON FOREST SCHOOL

Saturday 21st March BEAR HUNT Appleton Forest School.

Sunday 22nd March PRIVATE FUNCTION Birchwood Forest School

Saturday 28th March BEAR HUNT Birchwood Forest School

GOOD FRIDAY 3rd April Easter Special Birchwood Forest School

EASTER SATURDAY 4th April we'll be helping an Easter Egg Hunt at Risley Moss

EASTER MONDAY 6th April Appleton Forest School EASTER SPECIAL

Wednesday 8th April 10,000 BC NEOLITHIC VILLAGE

Saturday 11th April BEAR HUNT Salford Forest School

Monday 13th April Appleton Forest School

Tuesday 14th April GRUFFALO Cadishead Forest School

Wednesday 15th April FOREST GAMES and FIRE Birchwood Forest School

Saturday 18th April STREAM MADNESS Appleton Forest School

FIRE!

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
”

— Yeats

Fire - Good or bad?

Fire gives us warmth and light and something to cook on. Learning to light a fire could save your life - Its one of the most useful things you can learn in Forest School.

BUT fire eats fuel and is never satisfied. If it could fire would burn everything from forests to houses. It burns and injures. Its smoke can blind and sting, its flames can change direction and lick your clothes or flesh with its fiery breath. Water heated on a fire scalds and blisters. Even if there are no flames the embers can be red hot just under a layer of ash so fire creates doubt - is that fire out or just waiting to relight?

“Play with fire and you’ll get burnt.”

— Traditional saying

I used to work at a coal power station, have a wood burner, made campfires from being a boy and yes inevitably I've been burnt (nothing too serious I'm glad to say). I've lots of experience of how dangerous a fire can be and also how useful.

Fire and the Law

As fire can be so dangerous it can lead to severe punishment by law. Arson (deliberately setting a fire to cause damage) is nearly as serious as murder (up to life imprisonment) because it recklessly endangers lots of people, property and wildlife. Lighting a fire can be subject to environmental law (particularly if you're burning rubbish) and civil law if it causes non-criminal damage (such as accidental damage) which may aggravate other laws such as trespass.

We have licence agreements with land owners that stipulate how (or if) we use fire so that fires can be lit legally and safely with minimal impact.

Fire at our sites

At Fairy Forest School we only use fire when we need to (which in winter is most of the time so we can get warm) and with the express permission with the land owner. Some land owners such as the Woodland Trust insist we use a fire pan off the ground to protect the soil. Soil can contain lots of organic material and at some sites the soil (especially peat)  can 'burn.' At sites with a special conservation status we may not use fire at all.

Smoke can be a nuisance to local residents - who wants washing smelling of smoke! So we endeavour to light fires well away from a site's neighbours.

A common on the ground method is to use stones to contain a fire. However the heat can cause some stones to explode so that's a method we don't use. Instead we keep fire  safe by monitoring it. You leave it at your peril - so we'll never be far from the fire. We'll also have water on hand to contain the fire if it does spread and quench it at the end.

We also need to have clean cold water available just in case to treat a burn. A moments mistake can lead to a burn but if its treated immediately with water then it may not even blister or require further first aid.

The fire triangle

Fire needs 3 things - fuel, air and heat.  Take one away and the fire will go out. Don't provide one and it won't even light. Wet wood absorbs heat and so will cool a fire. You can smother a fire with too much fuel. And if you haven't a heat source such as a flint and steel then it'll just sit there staring at you whilst you freeze.

Build me a fire

Before you even get to lighting a fire then you need to build it. Before you build it you need materials. We usually bring our own wood because its bone dry to get it going. We collect dead wood that's off the ground and less likely to be damp. Children often gather wet wood so sometimes we leave that to dry by our fire to use later.

We raise our fire pan on fresh or rotting wood logs such as coppiced hazel (where allowed) or old birch. This helps to insulate the ground from the heat. We place the pan on top and use logs on the pan to create a raised border to help contain the hot ash on the fire pan. Across that we lay sticks to resemble a waffle with lots of gaps for air to flow through.  On top of that we put natural firelighters (such as made from beeswax) or birch bark and lots of fine sticks. We lean larger sticks over this to resemble a pyramid.

Note Respect position on approach to the fire (one knee on the ground for a quick exit should the wind change).

My hand is in front to gauge heat from the fire and make sure the marshmallow stick doesn't form a hot ember that can go in a child's mouth.

We do a rhyme to let it cool before eating. Also note the hazel tripod acting as a barrier or cooking frame.

Over the fire we have a hazel coppiced tripod interconnected at the top and impaled into the ground. This gives the location of the fire height and lets you dangle a Billy can over the fire if you want to cook. The tripod acts as a natural barrier to the fire and helps prevent anyone getting too close. Some forest schools use logs to sit by the fire to create a danger zone. These are nice especially for larger fires but if you don't have logs then the tripod is a good option. A disadvantage of logs is they're a trip hazard and you might trip and end up face first in a fire. Ouch!

You can buy iron tripods but these conduct heat and aren't obvious when they're hot. The hazel only ever gets warm for the short periods we use them. Over a sustained period they may catch fire so get ready to add them to the fire and make some more. One more advantage discovered by forest school students on a wet day is to lean wet sticks on the frame to dry before placing on the fire. Remember we're not leaving the fire so its safe as long as its monitored. 

We place cotton wool by the kindling and firelighters to catch the spark from a flint and steel and 3-2-1-ignition - the fires going.

The tree of fire

Silver birch is our favourite tree. Its quick growing and beautiful especially in Autumn when it looks like its made of silver (bark) and gold (leaves). Its great for fire. The bark if peeled acts as a natural fire lighter but don't take more than it yields by finger tip alone otherwise the tree is more prone to disease. The ends of the branches yield lots of fine twigs which is wonderful kindling - we don't take these off the tree as there's usually lots of wind damage twigs beneath them that are dry. Seasoned birch burns magnificently but you'll not find that in a wood without significant planning or unless its fallen and got lodged off the ground. Birch left on the ground rots quickly and soaks up water like a sponge - great for woodlice but poor for firewood.

NATURE'S FIRELIGHTER Only take the bark that is peeling and don't use a knife or you'll damage the tree.

And finally the leave of birch looks like a little flame. Particularly in Autumn when they go red/brown/gold.

People rave about Ash which can be burnt green due to its low moisture content. We only burn dead wood and never any green living wood. Lots of people rave about ash but I suspect that will change with the advent of Ash Dieback disease. People will see a healthy ash and leave it well alone because they will start to become rarer and rarer. Dieback ash will be fair game for burning.

btw - Seasoned ash isn't as good as birch but it does season quicker.

The science of fire

The ancient Greeks thought fire was an element. They got that wrong!

Fire is a chemical reaction where fuel (or carbon) combines with oxygen to make carbon dioxide (a waste gas) and water vapour. You need some activation energy for this to happen (hence you need heat for ignition) but the reaction is exothermic i.e. it produces heat. That's why fire can be so devastating because its a chain reaction or self sustaining -  as long as there's air and more fuel it'll keep on going.

The heat turns volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the wood into a gas that burns - in a similar way that a candle flame turns liquid wax into vapour as it rises up a wick and into the flame. This is what a flame is. Smoke is unburnt fuel. An efficient fire (like my woodburner) ensures all the smoke is burnt. So if your fire makes a lot of smoke you're wasting valuable fuel.

When the flames die down the solid carbon remains. This pretty much resembles charcoal. This solid carbon reacts with oxygen giving off heat and red light. These are the embers or hot coals of the fire and can carry on burning with little visible flame. Often forest school pupils say the fire is out at this stage even though its producing lots of heat. Chuck some kindling on and it reignites straight away producing lots of flames much to the surprise of those adamant its out! A bed of embers is great to cook on because they're so hot and unlike a flame won't move around with the wind.

After the fire

We cool it down and smother any unburnt fuel with lots of water. We take any half burnt sticks and scatter them ensuring they're soaked and cool. Any black embers we scatter. This is a great fertiliser or potash but can be toxic if left in the same place time and time again. That's why its important to scatter and also its part of our leave no trace policy.

Everything you need to extinguish a fire. Watch out for the first bucket on the fire - best done by an adult due to the steam! And we check there's no wee beasties about to get poached!