I’ve said it many, many times before but I LOVE autumn and as one of favourite places to take the kids happens to be Alice Holt Forest I was thrilled to read that Forestry Commission England has created a ‘Colour me Happy’ trail. The trail has lots of fun activities to help children ( and adults ) discover the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of autumn.
Japanese maples displaying stunning autumn colour on Pheasant Ride, Alice Holt Forest.
Starting in October, the ‘Colour me Happy’ trail will be located in the following Forestry Commission sites across England.
Abbots Wood, East Sussex
Alice Holt, Surrey
Cardinham, Cornwall
Chambers Farm Wood, Lincolnshire
Forest of Dean – Symonds Yat Rock, Gloucestershire
Great Wood, Somerset
Grizedale Forest, Cumbria
Haldon Forest, Devon
Haughmond Hill, Shropshire
Jeskyns, Kent
Kielder Forest, Northumberland
Leigh Woods, Bristol
New Forest – Blackwater Arboretum, Hampshire
Salcey Forest, Northamptonshire
Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire
Whinlatter Forest, Cumbria
Wyre Forest, Worcestershire
Some forests also have a giant weaving frame where you can hang your piece of forest art within the canvas to help create a wonderfully colourful piece of artwork. I can’t wait to find the frame at Alice Holt. I might even make my own!
You can also download a fantastic free autumn activity pack, filled with a variety of activities guaranteed to keep children happy this autumn.
Don’t forget to join #autumnleafwatch at Forestry commission sites by sharing photos of autumnal colours on Facebook, Instagram and twitter pages. Towards the end of autumn the public will be asked to vote for their favourite autumn image with the winner winning a year’s Forest Discovery Pass, £200 Go Ape vouchers and £100 photography vouchers! I’ll definitely be entering.
More autumn crafts and activities
To celebrate the start of our favourite season my 8 year old created a canvas of a beautiful autumn tree. What do you think?
There are also some great autumn activity ideas over on Science Sparks including preserving leaves, autumn goo, ice and lots more.
We are ambassadors for the Forestry Commission and receive a complimentary annual pass for Alice Holt.
I’m a huge fan of the Forestry Commission, and we haven’t visited Jeskyns yet, so I’m pencilling it in for a half term trip. Can’t beat a bit of crunching through Autumn leaves!
The colours in the first photograph of the Japanese Maples are just breathtaking and a wonderful representation of this beautiful time of year and all the changes we see in the nature around us. It is also great to know about the Colour Me Happy trail, so thank you for the information!
That sounds like such a lovely thing to do and I am pleased to see that there are a couple not too far from us, so I will add those to the list for half term
Oh wow this looks good. Might have to try to go to our nearest one.
I do love the colours of autumn and organised activities always go down well with my lot.
Oooh there’s a couple not too far from us so hopefully we;ll be able to check it out with the kids one weekend x
I love how they are encouraging people to enjoy autumn outdoors in the midst of it! Such lovely ideas too! 🙂