July 5th 2020

We have had a wonderful response to our lockdown Hat Design Project. 26 beautiful floral hats have been designed by children at Greenford Primary School. Well done to all the children, parents and teachers that participated.

Calling parents! A Hat Design Activity for Children at Home.

June 10th 2020

How we Make Hats –

And here’s a worksheet to take you through it step by step –

Bluebell Hat Worksheet

Please let us know how you get on via the Contacts page. _______________________________________

For more outdoor creative activities, click on this image:

Following a successful woodland workshop programme in 2019, we have been planning a Grand Bluebell Parade in Wraxall Woods in 2020. Our application for Arts Council funding had been successful. Dorset Council and Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are also funding the project, as well as the local community through Cattistock Flower Show and Quiz Nights at the Fox and Hound. Both Sticklands and Greenford Primary Schools, and local people are on board, artists were all ready to start workshops…Then the Coronavirus happened. 

At present schools are closed and we are unsure when the project will happen. Our funders are being supportive and the parade and workshops will take place in the next year, and it will be all the more exciting!

Expect, at some point, giant badgers, bluebell hats, foxes and boxing hares on children’s shoulders, all set to the hurdy gurdy and instrumental birdcalls. 

The Hanging Forest…

In cold December children at Sticklands Primary School ventured back to sunny days in Wraxall Woods. Under the trees the birds  sang and the bees buzzed. Each child made a tree or animal for the woodland wall. Artist Ed Jobling put together a beautiful soundtrack recorded in the woods. The Forest has been to Stickland and Greenford Primary Schools and spent January in Maiden Newton Church.

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Our Bluebell workshop in the tent at Wraxall Woods 

The exhibition in the tent shows work created by school children on the Bluebell Project. All work is created in, or inspired by the woodland.

Some snaps of children’s leaf prints –

And colours collected in the woods

Woodspeak Creators Workshop, Evershot, July –

What’s the Bluebell Project About? 

The project is a celebration of our local woodland in Wraxall, West Dorset. Every spring the woods are carpeted in bluebells, campion, stitchwort, primroses and celandine. Amongst the wildlife, a resident white stag can  be seen rutting in the early mornings.

With the support of local landlords the Parry Family, Dorset AONB, and a grant from the Ashley Family Foundation, we’ve opened up the woods to children from Greenfords and Sticklands Primary Schools, and the local community.  A programme of workshops is a-foot. Children learn about the woodland habitat with Nick Gray from the Dorset Wildlife Trust, then with artists Sarah, Kathy or Flora, they create artwork, often amongst the bluebells, or in the project tent. Our explorations this year will lead to a spring puppet parade in 2020.

Visit us on twitter: wwww.twitter.com/bluebellwraxall

Workshops and Exhibition

18th May – 1-3 pm     Mono-printing Weed Workshop and Exhibition

Location: Project tent, Wraxall Woods. 

On the A356, before / after the Rampisham Radio Station, take the turning for Cattistock and Wraxall. Drive through the woods and after the Manor House turn immediately right into the farmyard. You may park there, and walk back up the road to the gate.

Please let us know if you require a lift up the hill to the project tent. There is a portaloo on site.

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July 26^th  & Aug 29th  – Woodspeak Creators Workshop (Children), Evershot Village Hall.  

Our Spring Workshops in Cattistock…