Nature Nurture

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Supported by the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults - Ideas, Improvement and Innovation Fund, the group will meet weekly in 3 blocks of 10 sessions over the course of the year, taking part in a range of activities including coppicing, tree planting, and traditional crafts. We’ll come together over lunch, cooked by the participants, to share recipes, stories about ourselves and the woodlands, creating a safe space to connect with each other. We hope that the project will help participants to increase their wellbeing, reduce their social isolation, and enable them to take positive steps towards combatting the climate emergency.

Part of our social mission at Green Aspirations is to pass on traditional woodland skills, and the programme will include a range of greenwood and blacksmithing crafts, including weaving, spoon carving, furniture making, and basic forging. We’ll also invite other trainers to provide input from time to time, widening the experience of participants and encouraging them to try a range of different traditional crafts.

Nature Nurture is open to anyone who wants to attend and feels that they would benefit from regular time in nature. By creating a non-judgemental, inclusive, and supportive space, where different experiences and backgrounds are welcomed, we hope that the group will attract a wide range of people.

Places are limited to 15 each session so if you’re interested in taking part, please use the form below to sign up. Need to know more before you sign up? Check out the FAQs below. You can also email us with any questions on hello@greenaspirationsscotland.co.uk.

Remember, this is for you if you’re at all interested in being outdoors, doing something great for the climate, learning new crafts, building things, or finding out about what goes on in the woods.

Nature Nurture is our new volunteering project, designed to help anyone who might be facing social isolation or loneliness to get out in the woods and meet new people. Set in Kirkton Wood, nr Aberfoyle, we’ll meet on a regular basis to learn about the woodlands, manage different areas of the woodland, create new habitats, and learn traditional crafts.

Sign up today!

Programme details

Sessions will take place in predominantly at Kirkton Wood, nr Aberfoyle (https://what3words.com/former.relishing.mural), about a 15 minute walk from the bus-stop, served by the X10A between Glasgow and Stirling. All sessions are outside in the woods, but we will have some shelter available as well as a campfire. Sessions will run from 10am to 3.30pm on Thursday, starting on 5 March. Lunch is included as part of the session. When you sign up, we’ll send you all the details you need.

We’ll plan an outline timetable of activities for each of the ten-week blocks, but will make time in the first session to find out what people are most interested in and shape the activities accordingly. Each block of sessions will include a combination of woodland management and traditional crafts.

FAQs

  • We want to provide a safe and inclusive space to show that the woodlands are for everyone, and that being out in the woods, looking after nature, and making things with your hands is great to everyone.

  • The majority of the sessions will take place at Kirkton Wood, nr Aberfoyle (https://what3words.com/former.relishing.mural). Participants can get to Aberfoyle on the X10A bus and then walk from there - about a 15 minute walk. Some sessions will take place on our site, nr to the Port of Menteith.

  • Kirkton Wood is just that - a woodlands. We do have a composting toilet set up, as well as a fire and a shelter, but most of the work will be outdoors.

  • We’ll include a range of greenwood and blacksmithing crafts, including weaving, spoon carving, furniture making, and basic forging. We have some money in the budget to invite other experts, so can include a wide range of activities, such as art, storytelling, printing, and writing alongside traditional crafts.

  • We provide all the tools, and we’ll have work gloves for you to wear. You’ll need waterproof jackets, appropriate outdoor clothes for the winter, and sturdy shoes. If you don’t have any of these things, let us know - we have some funding to help buy kit for anyone who doesn’t have it.

  • No! Lunch and snacks will be provided at each session, free of charge!

  • No! Each session is free to attend,, supported by funding from the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults - Ideas, Improvement and Innovation Fund.

  • The fund supports anyone who is over 16 years old. If you’re between 14 and 16, take a look at our Teenage Dirtbags programme. Get in touch with us via email (hello@greenaspirationsscotland.co.uk) and we’ll look at each case individually.

  • Not at all! A focus of ours is to encourage more women into working in the woods.

  • We welcome everyone to the woods, so yes - please do come along. We have good experience of working with young people who are neurodivergent, and try our best to create safe spaces for everyone.

  • No experience is needed! We welcome anyone who thinks that this might be good for them.