Community
Our vision of sharing this land in ways that positively impact people's lives and imbue a sense of belonging to the land is unfolding in some exciting collaborations.
The Children's Forest
The Children’s Forest is a national project to support children and their communities to reconnect with Nature and to plant forests for the future generations of all species. They have planted two Children's Forests at the farm and host seasonal skill sharing and tending days; inviting both the children and their families to attend. The Children's Forest team support the tending of these flourishing trees, share ancestral skills and support children and their communities to form long term connections to the trees and the land.
Cultivating Curiosity
Cultivating Curiosity offer a monthly Nature immersion mentoring programme here at Hackhurst Farm for children from 3 to 16 years.
Guided exploration, games, singing and bushcraft skills support the children to sink into the rhythms of Nature and develop a deep, long-standing relationship with the natural world.
Ropemakers' Academy
Hailsham’s Ropemakers’ Academy works exclusively with children with special educational needs and are committed to enriching their curriculum with learning opportunities in Nature. They immerse themselves in the woods here four mornings a week and also tend the trees they planted with the Children’s Forest project.
Spontaneous sharings by the children:
"I love forest school. Being in the woods makes me feel calm".
"Making fire is the best. And climbing trees".
"It's really important to look after Nature. We should be kind to all the animals and bugs".
The above programmes draw inspiration from the 8 Shields Model. This is a nature-based mentoring framework, created to organise a collection of practices, design principles and activities that support deep nature connection and community building. The framework has been developed by founder, anthropologist and naturalist Jon Young and his mentors, and is based on observations of nature and an appreciation of nature-connected cultures.