Holly Grove Education

This is a sad post that I didn’t want to write but Holly Grove is now closing.

We’ve had a break from running groups over the winter and had planned to reopen after Easter but due to lots of reasons we are remaining closed.

We just want to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you for all the support we’ve received. Thank you for the kind words and encouragement and for joining our groups.

We feel like it’s ending before it has properly got started but we’ve had to have a shift of priorities. So thank you again and sorry to all those who’ve been asking when we are starting again.

It’s been an absolute pleasure to share our small piece of Derbyshire countryside with you all and hope you enjoyed coming to our groups.

Thank you 💚

A big well done to the fabulous Friday Saplings group who have completed their Junior Foresters Badge! They showed just how much they’d learnt by guiding their parents around the woodland and telling them about the trees, habitats and management skills they’ve developed over the past six weeks.

I would highly recommend the course which can be used with groups and also families. You can find this on the website.

This was our final session as we are now closed for winter. Thank you to all the participants and their parents for all the support you’ve shown us the past six weeks and more. Super Stars! 🌟

Friday Saplings worked on forest management up in the woods today. We spoke about holly and how it needs managing in our woodland so it doesn’t take over. Lots of lovely discussions happened and then tool use with the loppers. They each had a go using the loppers to cut the young holly and then added it to our dead hedge.

After all the work they played hide and seek and cuddled the guinea pigs before heading home. See you next week Saplings for our last session!

It was all about autumn this Wednesday for the Saplings group. We discussed how and why leaves change colour in autumn and then went to find some beautiful autumn leaves. 🍁

We used these leaves to create an autumn leaf wreath (try saying that quickly!) which turned out great.

The children also collected the best acorns they could find and then planted them in their own little pots to take home. Hopefully they will sprout and grow into magnificent oaks!

It’s been an absolute pleasure to spend Wednesday afternoons with this group. That was our last session and they went so fast! Well done to everyone who has attended and worked so hard each week.

✨ Our family tradition of watching for the harvest moon

We make harvest moon biscuits (jam thumbprints), read our harvest moon story and find a high point to watch the moon rise, big and orange.

The cloud was too thick this evening though, and I knew we wouldn’t see anything but we trudged to the top of the woods anyway. We enjoyed the biscuits which were even more special this year as the jam in the middle was quince from our own trees! Hopefully next year we will get a glimpse of the harvest moon.

A fantastic morning with the Friday Saplings! We braved the weather and learnt all about sustainable forestry and what things wood is used for. From toilet paper to bird boxes. They got stuck in making beautiful little benches (that I forgot to photograph 🙄), learnt new skills in using a hammer and nails and were pleased with the finished result! Well done team!

Our lovely volunteer helped us to pick all the tomatoes on Monday. The poly tunnel is clear apart from the aubergine that is still growing.

Today’s job was to sort and clean all the tomatoes. The red and orange ones went in to the oven for roasting and were made into a pasta sauce. The green ones are ready and waiting to be made into chutney later this week. I think we will have a lot of chutney!

Aren’t tomatoes beautiful?

Today we learnt all about the animals we would find in the woodland. Would we find a lion? No! Would we find a wolf? No! But that was a good conversation. Would we find woodlice? Yes!
We then went to see what clues animals leave us as we can’t always see them. We found bird poo, a badger sett, more poo and some tracks in the leaves. Then we made a bug house for the insects and mini beasts.

Everyone worked really hard, filled out their booklets and then had fun with the guinea pigs and picking the last of the veggies.

Well done Friday saplings!

Such a busy first Friday back for our Saplings group! We learnt so much about risks, the start of our Junior Foresters Award and headed into the woodland to spot potential risks and what we can do to make the area safe and enjoyable for everyone.

Some amazing thoughts, stories and questions came up, they all did so well!

Those pumpkins were harvested (we have 4) ready to be cured in time for October. One looked suspiciously like a bottom 🤭 so was named “Bumpkin”. Very funny 😁

Some of our Saplings also took home some veggies they harvested too. All the guinea pigs had lots of love, attention, cuddles and treats.

See you all next week where we will be thinking all about trees!

We welcomed in autumn today by learning all about seed dispersal methods and then going on a seed hunt. Then back to the tent to draw some of our finds and make seedy pictures plus some fun games of hide and seek! Great to see you all Wednesday Saplings!

Today we welcomed in autumn by learning all about seed dispersal methods, going on a seed hunt and drawing our finds. Plus a few rounds of hide and seek and looking at all the animals. A lovely first session back with the fabulous Wednesday Saplings!