We are looking for votes on the Aviva Community Fund website to raise over £10,000 to help us finish our roundhouse at Wick Court.
We are very grateful for recent funding from Tesco’s “Bag’s of Help” scheme, which allowed us to start this big project, enabling children to take part in woodland activities under cover in a new roundhouse each week.
With your votes, and sharing the message, we are now hoping to receive funding from the Aviva Community Fund to finish our roundhouse, by adding walls, both with cordwood set in cob and with wattle and daub, and by adding a membrane roof planted with sedums to keep the area dry. In addition to this, we are looking to develop their woodland area further by building a shelter with a toilet and shower block, and a sink for handwashing and food preparation. This would mean that the children could spend their last day at Wick Court outdoors – den building and trying out rural crafts such as willow weaving and felt making, as well as enjoying the experience of cooking over a fire and eating outdoors.
The addition of these facilities would also allow local primary schools, the local Wildlife Trust, Watch groups, scout groups and the Women’s Institute to use the area independently of the farm, and would open up the area to further community use. For example, the local primary school in Frampton is very keen to use the area regularly for Forest School activities but, at the moment, opportunities for them to do this are limited to the few, term-time days when we don’t have children staying on the farm so the bathrooms and kitchen are available. We also work closely with the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust, who run regular workshops and training days for the local community. Again, it would be possible to run these sessions alongside our school visits if we could develop the facilities in the area. It would also allow us to run our own specialist courses, e.g. in organic gardening or poultry keeping.
Please vote for us and share our project with friends and family, so children from city schools and local community groups can add to their outdoor learning experience!
