So whether you’re venturing out for some solo exploring, or want to do something memorable together as a family, read on for our top five things to do on a woodland or countryside walk.
Pack a picnic
There’s nothing better than taking in the views of nature with lashings of ginger beer or lemonade and a carefully packed picnic!
Pick a walking route and prepare yourself and the family a tasty packed lunch. You can’t go wrong with some fresh fruit, a few slices of Victoria Sponge cake and some tasty sandwiches. All perfect to devour after a hearty walk spent breathing in the fresh country air. Just remember to correctly dispose of any litter in the bins provided, or take your rubbish home with you to safely dispose of if there aren’t any around.
It’s a great way to make some lovely memories and a nice reward after all that exercise.
Make some bark rubbings
There’s nothing more exciting as a child than finding and discovering the world around you. That’s why taking some bark rubbings from the forest or woodland can be so much fun for your young ones. All you need is some paper and pencils or crayons and the great outdoors!
To create your rubbing, gently rest the paper over an area of tree bark or trunk and start to colour in the paper with your pencil. This will reveal the natural pattern and contours of the tree making for some pretty unique artwork.
Make sure you don’t pull any bark directly off the tree though, as this could harm it.
Get out and smell the roses with a Mindful Walk
Being outside in nature can be a really relaxing experience, helping you to distress and reduce feelings of anxiety.
Mindful walks are ideal for doing this and you don’t necessarily need a fancy app to aid you in doing one. Simply go on a gently paced walk and listen to the sounds around you and take in the beautiful sights.
Head to the countryside and once you’re out walking think about these things to help quieten your mind and encourage calm feelings:
- How does your body feel? Pay attention to your arms and legs as you take each step.
- Look around you and notice everything you see. The birds in the trees, the flowers blooming, the trees blowing in the wind.
- What can you hear? The gentle noise of leaves rustling in the trees, wind blowing through the woods, or birds gently chattering to one another.
- What are the scents you can smell? Roses, lavender, fresh grass and newly fallen rain.
- Let your mind gently wander in and out of positive thoughts that focus on nature and the environment around you.
Get arty
There’s so many beautiful things to see in the woods so why not capture as much of that as possible by taking a camera out on your walk and practising your photography skills? You can take shots of the flower and fauna, the skyline and even the beautiful wildlife you come across.
If you have children, let them take some pictures of the interesting things they find or ask them to capture the different patterns they can see in nature. That could be the circles, squares, lines and diamonds they might find growing in the plants or amongst the trees.
When you get home let them admire their work and spend time with them looking through the things they found.
Bird, wildlife and tree spotting
You can’t go wrong with this classic past time which involves spotting different breeds of birds, animals and trees.
There’s an abundance of free apps you can download to smart mobile phones that will help you with this. Use these apps to help identify and tell you about the different locations in the UK where you can spot various types of wildlife. The Nature Finder App by the Wildlife Trust is great for this, as is the British Trees app by the Woodland Forest Trust which has an A-Z guide of all the tree species found in the UK.
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