As one of her last tasks at Strathyre before moving on to adventures new at the Forest Holidays site at Cropton, Debbie kindly opened our brand new group shelter. We celebrated with a BBQ in the fire pit! We would just like to thank Debbie for all her support with our new activities and wish her the very best for when she starts at Cropton on 18th April. Be sure to visit her there!
Will constructed the shelter with a hazel and alder wood frame and a spruce thatch. The design follows the ‘lean-to’ style den demonstrated on his Forest Survival sessions. Similar to an ancient round house, people would gather and warm themselves around a fire and enjoy communal food and festivities. This shelter has a larger hole in the top, but it’s still cosy! We will be using this as our new ranger station amongst the trees in a hidden section of the site. It will also feature in our new version of Dusk Watch where we talk ‘bats, owls and spooky tales’! We will finish around the fire with marshmallows for the spooky tales and the odd forest spell!
Later this year we will also be using the shelter for our new Young Explorers session - ‘Arts and Rafts’ - where we will be building amongst other things mini bug hotels, wands, pendants, faerie houses and rafts which can be put to test on the nearby loch. Can anyone better Will’s raft, Wilson, we wonder? It’s all happening here thanks to this gorgeous weather. We’ve had roe and red deer sightings, rabbits are everywhere, toads, catkins, coltsfoot, lesser celandine and much more has been spotted. All are celebrating new life as the days become longer than night after the recent Spring Equinox. We’re looking forward to having so much to talk about, eat and use on our walks. We’re also keeping an eye out for that first house martin or swallow to arrive back to the cabin eaves! It shouldn’t be long now…
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