Events

We advertise public events from time to time... please contact us if you'd like us to send you email updates.

All the events listed below will take place at our main site, unless stated otherwise.  Please book with the Blackdown Hills AONB, tel. 01823 680681.  Prior booking is essential.

in 2010...

April 10th.  Family nature day.  10am - 4pm.  A mix of nature awareness games and activities that will bring adults and children very close to the natural world.  To include tracking, wild food, tree and plant i/d, stealth games.  Cost: £10 per adult / £5 per child.

May 29th.  Fire by friction day.  10am - 4pm.  Learn to achieve success at making fire by friction (“rubbing sticks together”), as well as how to successfully get a fire going with only natural materials.  The session will include tool safety and leaving only footprints!  Cost £20, + £7 if you wish to take a friction fire-lighting set home.  Suitable for beginners and those who wish to improve their fire-lighting skills, age 11+.

July 28th.  Nightjar and bat walk.  8 - 10pm.  An evening walk on Culmstock Beacon to see and hear nightjar (picture below) and to locate bats with a bat detector.  We may also find glow-worms.    These walks have yielded excellent sightings in previous years, though nothing is guaranteed!

August 13th.  Woodcraft and whittling day.  10am - 4pm.  Activities will include making whistles, whittling ornaments, Japanese braiding and pyrography.  Suitable for children of secondary school age and upwards.  Session will include knife and tool safety.  Cost £20 per person.

More events will be added as they are planned.  Please contact us with any specific requests.  Look out for our fungus forays in the autumn.  We will be at Killerton (National Trust) on June 3rd and August 19th, also at the Wilderness Gathering and Greenbelt in August.

Bow-making courses

Wildside Experience are very pleased to recommend Peter Whiteman of Lower Turley Farm, near Cullompton, for greenwoodworking and bow-making courses.  Peter is a highly skilled woodworker, and he arranges his courses on a one-to-one or two-to-one basis.  Contact him directly for more information on 01884 32234.

"Excellent value for money, highly recommended.  I learnt lots about woodwork, and I had a beautifully finished yew bow to take home at the end.  The delicious lunches were a bonus!  The course was perhaps my best ever birthday present."                                                                                                            

(Richard Whiteside, Wildside Experience).