Fantastical Histon

Many of the ideas gathered to date were shared on the willow arches and children were invited to take this and add to it but also start new work off on the boxes and panels we’d bought along. The sun shone and ideas flowed. Families joined us at the end of the day too, enjoying the invitation to sit amongst the work and add their own.

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These are magic symbols which make the forest come to light Claudia (4)
My tree is alive and real Arthur (4)
I wish this was here all the time Neha (4)
I would stay here forever Samantha (mum)

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Our task now is to gather all these wonderful ideas and shape them into a new fantastical map for the Histon community. Watch this space.

We roamed the gardens, smelt the herbs, explored the sheds and helped clear the fishpond before heading back indoors to share a snack and memories of outdoor adventures new and old.

I remember all the names of the wild flowers. Sweet Hay - it got its name because it smelt sweet like hay - Herb-Robert, Scarlet Pimpernel, Selfheal….

I remember we would hold the buttercup under someone’s chin and if the yellow was reflected it meant they liked butter.

We shared stories and ideas together and gathered wonderful new drawings for our fantastical map we are creating.

The day was part of a celebration of green spaces around the community organised by HISustainability. Huge thanks to their team for all their support and to our volunteers on the day Bridget Cusack and Gladys Jones.

Back in the nursery we shared what we had found and began to create more stories and characters to inhabit them. Erin’s incredible mouse-like seedhead was given its own toy and named Tilly, who Erin then drew being carried by another dormouse named Reggie.

Caitlin spent time drawing her collection of treasures before adding ‘Kooka and Lawa the dinosaurs, who live with the mice in a treehouse in the woods. Kooka likes to eat chocolate with Peter Rabbit, Lawa can see things really far away… she found a coconut and took it to a summer beach to drink.’

Elliott quietly focused on creating an extraordinary and intricate collection of forest pictures to which he added smaller detailed observational drawings using a magnifying glass and a collection of animals.

We were struck by the focused concentration as the children remembered their morning in the woods and worked together on ideas for our fantastical map.  We will be taking lots of this work to share with residents in the nearby Bramley Court Care Home next. 

(By Hilary Cox Condron) From sharing some of our favourite things – splashing in puddles, climbing, running, playing in the park and resting in the garden – to snoring like a dormouse and imagining dormouse dreams, our first ‘Fantastical Histon’ session was, indeed, fantastical.

What might a dormouse see and smell when it first wakes up after hibernation? And what might it’s nest look like?  Alexis and Sophia (4) created a kitchen for their dormouse nest - ready to prepare a breakfast of flowers. Nests were carefully placed in the garden so dormice could visit.

We know that being outdoor explorers and artists means we look at what is around us from all different angles – after being tiny mice with fresh new eyes, we imagined we were as big as Mo Carter, the Histon Giant…taking huge steps as we look down on the village.

Next week we will explore Homefield Park – imagining we are tiny and imagining we are huge. And we will also visit the nearby Bramley Court Care Home with some children and hear from residents about some of their favourite places in Histon.