At CVN we are passionate about the benefits of learning outdoors in the natural environment and we spend as much time as we can in our local woodland.

We are continuing to develop our plans to move our service to the woodland and have recently revised our original business plan to facilitate this move. The revised plan sets out a phased approach which will better help us achieve our long term goal.

As a first step we plan to extend our current service by increasing the number of days we spend in the woods. We are currently looking to source funding to allow us to build a shelter which will support children’s experiences particularly in the extremes of weather conditions. The shelter will provide basic heat (likely by means of a wood burning stove) and we hope to have access to power via solar panels. The shelter will allow us to extend play and learning and support children to have positive experiences particularly in colder, wetter weather conditions.

As we develop our service above we will be gaining significant knowledge and experience which will feed into the larger project which we will pursue in the background. 

So, while our longer term aim remains to create a bespoke facility in the woodland, we will be able to enhance children’s play and learning opportunities in the meantime. The aims of the larger building include to facilitate immersive and sustained engagement in the woodland environment which in turn will promote the development of environmental awareness, social responsibility and community pride. These aims remain equally appropriate for this initial phase of the project.

Like the larger nursery building, the shelter will provide a secure base for children and support their play and learning opportunities in the outdoors albeit on a smaller and potentially more rustic scale. The shelter will also be a community asset available for use by community groups and organisations supporting their use of the woods too. 

We are working with Inch Architecture and local suppliers to establish the design and location of the shelter which we intend will complement the larger project.

Find out more under the CVN in the Woods tab