Welcome to our tree friends, and thank you for subscribing if you are receiving this newsletter for the first time. We hope this finds you enjoying the evolving colours of the seasons (autumn / spring depending where you are). We’ve been enjoying some different venues for forest bathing over recent months, whether guiding walks, scouting new trails or exploring on a weekend away.
Our wanders and events
We are pleased to be able to offer some special one-off events this autumn, and look forward to welcoming you to the woods in small groups, in person or online. We are grateful to the land owners and managers who have given permission for us to wander in their woods.
Cowden Japanese Garden - Sunday 2nd October - places still available Cowden garden, near Dollar, was restored recently along with some of the buildings. This is a delightful garden and feels like a wee trip to Japan in Scotland! For your opportunity to experience forest bathing here, please book your ticket directly with Cowden Garden for this 90 minute experience (minimum numbers apply). We have enjoyed facilitating a number of forest bathing sessions in the garden and woodland over the last year, and we appreciate participants offering positive feedback about the experience. Please let you friends know if you enjoyed a session and encourage them to join us next week when we can wander among the autumn colours. Ticket price includes entrance to the garden, tea and snack.
Binning Wood on Saturdays: 29th October, 26th November Walks will take place on the last Saturday of the month. This wood, originally planted by the Earl of Haddington, with a design possibly based on a street plan of London, is located near Tyninghame village and East Linton, East Lothian. Advance bookings - click here. Ticket price includes tea and snack, event 3 hours.
Online Virtual Walks on Sundays: 25th September, 9th October, 20th November Join us from wherever you are in the world - your home, local green space or woodland. We will walk together for 90 minutes with the aid of a little technology and share our land and beings. There will be time for your own connections. Please bring your own tea and snacks. Advance bookings - click here. We recently guided a couple of wellbeing sessions for colleagues connecting across Europe - it was lovely to see everyone’s woods / park where they were walking and hear all the connections being made. It was a good excuse to play with some ‘story weaving’ afterwards.
Kirknewton - 5th October, 6 November For anyone who lives in Kirknewton, we are offering three sessions kindly funded by Kirknewton Community Development Trust over the autumn - please see posters around the village or the local Facebook page for further details. The first session with the seniors was enjoyed by a small group. The other dates are 5th October and 6 November. Contact us for further details.
If there is demand, we are happy to arrange additional walks for general or private bookings. You may wish to arrange a wellbeing session or ‘green spa’ experience with friends, or you may wish to arrange an event for your colleagues (or make the suggestion). Contact us to discuss how we can tailor an event for you to support your wellbeing and wellness.
What else has been fluttering and keeping us occupied …
New Locations
Hopetoun House, South Queensferry - walking and connecting with the trees and nature at Hopetoun House was a highlight over the summer. We are grateful to be able to use the grounds as a new venue for forest bathing and appreciate the Hope family for being the stewards of the land for hundreds of years. We have enjoyed getting to know the grounds, where some particular trees are great characters.
Located on the east side of Loch Lomond, Cashel Native Forest is a quiet haven near the loch, with a mixture of ancient semi-native woodland and new native woodland planted on previous agricultural land over 20 years ago. We enjoyed an autumn morning wandering the trail, allowing ourselves to be. There was a stillness in the air, and the quietness enabled us to work out what a faint scratching noise was - a wasp crawling up a decaying stem and scratching for paper to take back to its nest. The Cashel Trust is a subsidiary of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society (RSFS).
Wild Wednesday events were organised by the Seasonal Rangers at West Lothian Council. Each week over the summer holidays, a different park across West Lothian was visited come rain or shine. A range of activities were on offer from the various organisations present as well as informing the public about responsible access in Scotland. Finding my inner child, I quite enjoyed colouring in a finger puppet, though it would only fit my wee finger!
Foraging for tea
We have been experimenting with some new plants for making forest tea this year - some more successful than others. For something different, a small batch of rosebay willowherb syrup was made. It has an amazing colour of deep pink and has a distinctive floral flavour. Over the next few weeks, we will be foraging for other berries as they ripen.
If you are able to join us on walks in the coming months, there might be some new flavours in the mix!
As long as you know what you are picking, what seasonal delights have you had on your wanders or used in cooking? This year there is certainly a bountiful harvest of brambles.
Getting Social …
Remember you can find us as Woodlands Breathing on Facebook and Instagram, and as Jean on Twitter and LinkedIn.
For the time being, event booking for public walks is via Eventbrite - you can use the link from the Woodlands Breathing website.
If you have a suggestion of what can be included in this newsletter in the future, please let us know. If you know of a group who would like to an introduction to forest bathing, you have a new location to suggest or you wish to join an event, arrange a gift voucher or special group experience for friends or staff wellbeing, please get in touch to discuss options.
Thank you for reading and we hope to welcome you to the woods soon … in the meantime, enjoy the rainbow of autumn colours wherever you are.
Happy wanders!
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