Sitting in the warmth of a shared office space at Wakelyns, we sit here with big smiles on our faces and the sun streams though the widows, and already it seems the depths of winter are sliding away from sight.
We have had a busy start to 2025, with our Learning From the Land project kicking off, sharing some wonderful sessions with local primary school children and planning exciting new things for the year ahead.
Last year was full to the brim, and 2025 is looking no different. In recent weeks, we have been back out at Ilketshall, Wenhaston and Edgar Sewter Primary schools, exploring varied and vital roles within the landscape. With sessions planned at Holton and Kelsale Primary schools in the pipeline.
Sessions have enabled children to meet a range of different practitioners, all who support the land in some way, shape or form with their practice.
We took Kitty and Clare of Contemporary Hempery one of our schools, to share the breadth of environmental benefits the humble Hemp plant can bring. They helped pupils to learn how they are tackling sustainable fashion and supporting nature, by reintroducing the crop at Wakelyns Farm for their fiber art practices. The pair had the class journeying back over the last few hundred years yrs, to a time when Hemp was a staple fibre crop of our local area; we explored the residual local place names – such as ‘Hempstead’ – building connections to how a single plant shaped the identity of where we live.
In other sessions we have had Willow Phoenix taking classes at Ilketshall and Edgar Sewter Primary schools on a deep dive into the versatility of Willow, what agroforestry farms are and how the flexible tree can support carbon storage and wildlife. These sessions were attended by some of the parents too, which was a real delight and now over 75 children have taken home green willow cuttings to propagate with new skills in creating woven bird tables to support local populations.
Over at Wenhaston we had the pleasure of bringing a new practitioner into school with us – Harry Read, an ecologist and brilliant nature photographer and filmmaker. Harry is a real bird enthusiast and uses his skills in drone photography to help map local landscapes for rewilding and nature recovery too
This unique combination enabled us to support the school and fellow Blyth Community Conservation Network member, Blyth Woods Charity, to document their new site; St Peters Pigthle. This piece of land has gone through a number of identities over the years, but the charity will be working to strengthen the links with the primary school housing a tree nursery, forest school sessions, and nurturing the land back to peak health.
Pupils helped us capture the land at this pivotal point in its restoration journey. They conducted sensory surveys, exploring beyond tallying species numbers.
This week we will be returning to Wenhaston for their second session, where our filmmaker and archiver, Lewis Wickwar will be supporting the pupils to look at creative ways to archive, helping the group configure their findings into a final celebration of the land.
We will write more soon, with our plans for the year ahead. Enjoy the lovely early spring sunshine!
