Crunchy and beautiful times!

Wow what a few months, so much has happened since the last posting here in 'blogville'. I was rather outrageous and planned a long time ago to have a trip away....I am now back from New Zealand having had the most wonderful month travelling the north and south island. I happened to coincide the trip with the rugby world cup (well was the main reason to start with!!)!! I can safely say that i was in utter awe with the country, the vast expanse of space and wilderness, the variety of wildlife and landscapes that left me tears. Tears of joy and shear amazement that put everything in perspective and are a sharp reminder of the fact that we are so small in the world and nature really is truely an empowering, humbeling, scary and utterly beautiful thing. I appreciate it, but did not think it was possible to feel it even more. I also met some amazing people who were so friendly and hospitable, including a lady called Chrissy at Earth and Sky at Lake Tekapo http://www.newzealandsky.com/earthandsky/ who i must have stopped from doing any work all day, as we discussed in depth and in detail the vital importance of these wild spaces for children and how things even in New Zealand where there are only 4.4million people, compared to here in the UK with 65million, are changing and children do not have the same level of access to wild spaces as they did 30-50 years ago. Facinating country and did themselves proud with hosting the RWC!

Then i returned here to the West Country to fall right back into half term and playing in the woods! We had a great few days in the woods and one day was all bar one fully booked, which was excellent and we had a smashing day. We hope for more like that next year when the Woodland Playschemes start up again in February.

Then last weekend....bonfire night! Not only was a good time to celebrate Guy Fawks night, it was also Christina's 40th birthday (who does a lot of the blogging and is often the face of the Woodland Play Centre, as is at the heart of all networking!!) and also Mathilde (Chrsitina's daughter) had her 6th birthday the same week, Mathilde is often in the woods and can be found with Woody and Roo in tow! She has an air of magic that brings the woods alive. So this was a good reason to party and celebrate in the woods.

The day started with a Robin Hood birthday party, there were 18 young people ranging from 1 to 11 years old all dressed up and ready to make bows and arrows. We had (thankfully) ample adults to help as that was a bit of a mission! It was a busy afternoon, as there was a 'shooting range' once the bows and arrows were made! There was lots of running, chasing, finding, climbing trees all afternoon too. The toilet as always is a highlight!

Then the food.....what a feast! Sausages, cake, biscuits, marshmallows. A friend of Christina's made some amazing cup cakes that looked so beautiful on the cake stands in the woodland, just waiting for a woodland pixie to land on top of them!! All in all it was a great success and think the children (and adults!) went home exhausted, tired and smelly!

As if that was not enough, we...well Christina decided we would have a Bonfire party in the evening, in the woods! The lanterns were lit to light the path into the woods, we had a big bonfire and then on the camp fire had more food, mulled wine and homemade soup! We had friends from all over to come and celebrate in the woods and we gathered around the bonfire with our sparklers and then poof.....the bonfire flames changed colour, they went all green, blue, red, purple. Who needs fireworks....we had lots of 'oooo'ss, ahhh's and wow's', all without a bang!!

Here are some images of recent goings on....enjoy ;)