Countryside and Trees

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• Itchen Valley Country Park to run Forest School thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund
  

Thanks to a grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) a Forest School (including traditional country crafts) for local school children will be run at Itchen Valley Country Park.

The award will enable Eastleigh Countryside Service to set up Forest School sessions for three days a week for a period of 2 years. During these sessions, children will learn about their heritage and the countryside around them through visiting craftspeople and activities completed outside in our woodland area.
 

The sessions, which will start after the Easter Holidays 2010, will involve groups of children from local schools taking part in regular outdoor sessions. They will not only learn about nature, knots, outdoor cooking and shelter building but also traditional crafts like basket weaving, brick-making and hurdles through visiting craftspeople. The variety of activities completed on a regular basis will remind them of their countryside heritage whilst making them comfortable in the outdoors and encouraging team-building and communication skills.

For more information contact Kim Peters kim.peters@eastleigh.gov.uk

• Heritage Lottery Fund Rescues Stoneham War Shrine

Eastleigh Borough Council owns and manages over 320 hectares of countryside. Our officers can also offer general advice on countryside issues, such as biodiversity or creating a wildlife garden in your school grounds. To find out more about Eastleigh's Countryside Service and how we can help you, follow the links below:

• Hocombe Mead (Chandler's Ford): Local Nature Reserve declaration

If you have a query regarding one of our sites, please view our site list in order to contact the appropriate ranger for the site, either by telephone or e-mail.

If the site you are searching for does not appear on the list, it may be that it is managed by Hampshire County Council Countryside Service. Please telephone them on 023 8045 6484.

• Country Parks owned by Hampshire County Council

• Forestry Commission - Stoke Park Woods (99 hectares of woodland in Bishopstoke/Fair Oak)

Sense & Motion Project - a health and wellbeing project

Growing Adventures - part of Eastleigh Borough Council's "Let's Go Play" portfolio funded by the Big Lottery to encourage children to explore and discover natural play

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