The Treewise Kitchen Garden is a growing and cooking project for families with young children in the local community.  Treewise has acquired an allotment next to the orchard. In addition to our already popular activities, we are now excited to be introducing more food growing and cooking and hope to share food costs with other families. The aim is to enhance all our lives with more outdoor activity.

Everyone involved will benefit from the fresh food being produced and will also have opportunities to learn new food related skills. You’ll also have a chance to join in with some food-based celebrations.

We will be offering training workshops throughout the year. You can try your hand at food growing; do a bit of baking; learn all about low energy cooking methods or perhaps even learn how to make a woodfired bread oven!

The Treewise Kitchen Garden project is being supported by the Big Lottery Fund, the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme, Grassroots and Community Foundation funding. We are also pleased to announce that Michael Michaud from Sea Spring Seeds will be donating seeds for the project.

Olly Goolden from Five Penny Farm will be holding tutorials every third Wednesday of the month.  We will also be running other courses throughout the project so please see our Dates For Your Diary page to find out when our next workshops are. 

Workshops to look forward to are Grub-In-A-Tub with Michael Michaud and a How To Make A Bread Oven with Bernard Graves.

Forthcoming Treewise Events

Wednesday 14th April - Grub-in-a-tub with Michael Michaud - 10.30am-11.30am Willy Tuck’s Orchard and also 1.30pm - 2.00pm at Town Allotments, Bridport Community Orchard, South Street

Sunday 9th May - Blossom Time Picnic - Willy Tuck’s Orchard

7th August - Pizza Day:  Enjoy a freshly baked pizza in our new bread oven - Willy Tuck’s Orchard

with Anita Bell and Kim Squirrell
March 5th - 7th (Fri - Sun) 

An introductory course to feltmaking for those with an interest in exploring art through our natural environment. Using the colours, textures and sounds of the natural world as our starting point, we will be creating simple but beautiful felts, exploring both wet and dry felting techniques. Anita Bell and Kim Squirrell are both members of Treewise.

This weekend would also be suitable for teachers, play rangers and those working with adults and children with disabilities who want to explore environmental approaches to learning.To book a place please go to Monkton’s website: www.monktonwyldcourt.co.uk or telephone Monkton on 01297 560342.

This is a residential course and will be held at Monkton Wyld Court in Dorset,  there is an option to attend on a non-residential basis for locals.

£215 residential, £145 non-residential

We spent a fascinating few days in the orchard this summer discovering which insects live in this habitat and finding out what it’s like to be a bee or a bug.

We borrowed a moth trap for the week and discovered an amazing arrray of moths that visit the orchard at night.   Moths such as the Jersey Tiger Moth, the Stripped Hawkmoth, an Autumn Tip and Ermin Buff among many others were captured.  As you can see we managed to get very close to these night flying creatures.     

We were also visited by a local bee expert who brought along an observation hive, our job was to spot the Queen Bee who had been marked with a bright green dot.   We found out that bees work their way up the hierarchal system in the hive, from cleaning the hive to collecting the pollen, and it’s the female bees that do all the work!

The children made a bug house for the orchard which visitors will be able to help monitor, they also created some pieces of artwork inspired by the insects we discovered.

We have been so excited by the variety of moths we have found we are planning to carry out some further monitoring of both moths and butterflies that are visiting our orchard, and next year we’re hoping to do some batwatching and mammal tracking, if we’re lucky we might even spot some of the elusive creatures that frequently visit us.

Join us for a musical morning of melody making….using plastic bottles, sticks, old tins and string we will create our own mini junk orchestra.

David Squirrell is a mandolinist and craftsman with a passion for the outdoors. We will be hosting this session in our orchard overlooking the village of Symondsbury, nr Bridport, Dorset.

Family days: Adults £15 children £7.50

under 5’s free.

We believe in the benefits of human scale

education so group sizes are limited.

Book now! 01308 427449

Celebrating our bees and bugs: 17th - 21st August

Explore the world of the bugs and bees and join us for a relaxed week of family activities in the beautiful setting of Willy Tuck’s Orchard, Symondsbury, nr Bridport, Dorset.

Find out what it’s like to be a bug or a bee, make insect houses and traps, listen to stories and make bug inspired pieces of art. We will also be using a moth trap to find out what’s in the orchard at night.

This event will run Mon-Thurs from 10am -3pm, culminating on the Friday with a puppet show and campfire food, 3pm-5pm.

Programme:

Mon 17^th

Be a bug walk, storytelling, making bug traps and homes

Tues 18^th

Moth observation trap and bug catching, storytelling, bug art and feltmaking

Wed 19^th

Observation hive with local bee expert, storytelling, beeswax modelling, earth pigment painting

Thurs 20^th

Applewood puppet making, storymaking

Fri 21^st

Campfire food and puppet show

Weekly Prices: Adult £50, Child £30, under 4s free.        Daily bookings prices: Adult £13, Child £7   

Friday price: Adult £6, Child £4

If you don’t live in the area : there are plenty of campsites nearby if you fancy a family holiday in West Dorset and would like to come to our event.

Spaces are limited and booking will be essential. Please phone us on 01308 427449 for more information.

Come and enjoy a stimulating and informative evening with medical herbalist Georgie Corrywright of WILD MEDICINE.

This six week course is designed to introduce you to local herbs and includes a practical session.  Each week you will learn about a different body system and the ways you can contribute to your own health and well being through the natural healing and health promoting properties of everyday plants.

The course starts on Monday June 1st and runs from 7-9 in the evening.  We will be holding the sessions in our  orchard,  where we have carved out a little niche on the hillside,  our handmade yurt is nestled below the famous Colmers Hill overlooking the village of  Symondsbury.

Fees are an introductory offer price of £60 with some concessions available. Price includes all materials and refreshments.

Book now! 01308 427449

We believe in human scale education so class sizes are limited.

in the orchard in Symondbury

starting April 22nd

£24 for the term ( £2 per session)

Campfire cooking, greenwoodworking, outdoor games,

art and craft, gardening,

All ages welcome

( children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult )

Telephone 01308 427449/420602 to book

Family Firecraft

Sunday 26th April

10 a.m-4 p.m

with Chris Holland of WHOLELAND

Cost £15 per adult and £7.50 for children children under 5 free

Spend the day learning all about fire in one of our beautiful Dorset woodlands.  Through hands on exploration you will find out how to make fire using natural tinders and even have a go at making fire from a spark. Once the camp fire is going Chris will cook up a wild and tasty treat fresh from the forest.

Telephone 01308 427449/420602 to book