Swainswick Explorers, home education, Upper Swainswick BA1 8BU, children's parties, playing outdoors, Bath, UK,playworkers, children's days out Bath Bristol, playwalks, play walks,playingoutdoors, leigh-Wood, Rachel cacanas

Playwalks

rediscovering outdoor play

Contact details:Upper Swainswick House, Tadwick Lane, Bath BA1 8BU,01225 858251, rachel@playingoutdoors.org

Young Explorers - Playwalks
climb a tree, whittle a stick, feel natural clay in your hands
discover new places to go & things to do with your family
children connect with nature & friends while running off that excess energy!

We meet on Thursdays, 10am - 12pm termtime. Please look at Playwalks on our blog - http://swainswickexplorers.blogspot.com - from our home page to see what we get up to each Thursday. There is a description and slideshow of photos for each outing.

Each term we meet at a different outdoor venue. See directions to this term's venues below. It is sometimes within walking distance of houses and sometimes requires a short car journey to get there. The walks are suitable for children of all ages. Most parents bring a child who can walk as well as sometimes babies in prams and backpacks. We have a few home educated children attending. We each other up the steep slopes or over obstacles. Children younger than 3 may find the Nov-Feb months too cold to stay out for the whole 2 hours. Please bring a little food to share. We have a picnic at some point along the way.

Edward and Rachel are experienced outdoor play leaders. We show the grown ups, week by week, activities which work well outside. Activities covered: Responding to children's ideas for play, campfire lighting and keep it going, campfire cookery, digging e.g. mole hills, natural clay, forest skills - making things using hand saws and penknives, mini beast hunts and identification, shelter building, water play at streams, swinging on rope swings, using shelters to keep out rain and to shade, picking petals and grass etc for environmental art projects.

The cost is £5 a session if you pay for the whole term (usually 6-7 weeks) or £7 if you choose to come for one off sessions.

May/June 09. We are meeting at Chilcombe Bottom this term, from Thursday 23rd April to Thursday 21st May, 10am - 12pm. 5 sessions. Bring some food to share. Directions are below.

Directions to places we have explored:

Chilcombe Bottom. A valley with lots of wooded areas for play and few steep banks. It is about 15 mins walk from Larkhall. If coming from Bath/Larkhall:
* come up old A46 (gloucester road), turn right to go under a bridge (which is dual carriageway above) and park in lay-by on left after you've swung round the corner
* come up new A46 dual carriageway, turn off at Swainswick turning, go past garage on right and turn left under bridge and park in lay-by on left after you've swung round the corner

Bathampton Woods. Directions: come out of Bath along the A36 Warminster Road, turn right into Hantone Hill. It is a housing estate with lots of nice gardens out the front of the houses. Follow the road up the hill, passing 2 left hand turns. The road then swings round to the left. Drive along to the end and park before the road then turns to the left again. We'll meet at a path/alley that runs along between houses into the wood.

Kensington Gardens. Turn into Grosvenor Road, off the London Road (opposite Larkhall end). Come along Grosvenor Road, all the way, ignoring turns to your left until you reach the end of the road. There'll be some blocks of flats opposite you. Park up and we meet on the bridge, along to the end of the road on your right. Take a note of my mobile number and call me if you have any problems: 07758 515092.

Charlcombe Valley. We'll meet at the end of Spring Lane which is in Larkhall, just past St Saviour's Infant School and the lower part of St Marks school. There is plenty of parking in Spring lane. At the end of Spring Lane there is a grassy area where we'll be waiting. Link to map is below. Postcode is BA1 6NY. There are 5 Thursdays this term so it will be either £25 or £7 a session if paying ad hoc. Bring some food to share.
Link to map http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=BA1+6NY&sll=51.381428,-2.357454&sspn=0.119353,0.300751&g=BA1+6NY&ie=UTF8&ll=51.399487,-2.349358&spn=0.007457,0.018797&z=16&iwloc=addr.