Wood Craft

It was a glorious day today in Manchester. I had planned to paint girl monkey's bedroom but after the ceiling I needed a break. Her room is not of the straight forward 4 walls and a ceiling kind of variety but has an alcove and many different nooks and angles. Besides I wanted to join the wood folk for a bit of fun in Paupers Wood.

A truly unique place where children can run around a wood without having to stick to the paths and be worried about where they are walking. Here they have the experience that we had when we were little. Building dens, finding bugs and simply running around the trees and bushes. It is a wonderful place to teach children about nature; you can even have a party here. The lady who runs the woods is such a lovely person and she has really made this into a community project.

Today there was an easter egg hunt. This wasn't just a chocolate egg hunt but the young ones had to spot different colour cardboard eggs that had a letter on them and guess the word they made once they'd found them all. For the little ones there was a hunt for role play eggs that were collected in a basket made from an egg carton and a lovely little glittery handle. At the end they all got a medal. Again this was home made, from gold plated clay and string. Everyone thought it was the best prize.

There was also willow weaving. Local crafts girl Juliette Hamilton showed us how to make several willow items. I truly hope she is going to run some courses because she had the most gorgeous items on show. The kind of things I'd see when I go back to Holland everywhere but never see here.

I made this little basket that can hold a tea light. I proudly hung it in my garden. WIth my recently acquired wooden garden furniture it feels like the garden is turning into a real outdoor room. I am hoping to turn it into the most adorable garden based on the place where we stayed last summer. I can only try.....