Our South Home Counties team commissioned the Surrey Wildlife Trust to deliver the workshop to teach the children about the different habitats garden creatures need, allowing them to put their new knowledge into practice with the wildlife they found in the showhome gardens. The class were also taught about wildlife and horticulture through a series of games and activities, in addition to understanding how to improve their own gardens for wildlife i.e. hedgehog holes, areas of long grass, log piles and ponds.
Our development at Ockford Park has been carefully designed to integrate with and support the surrounding environment and the showhomes feature gardens with instant impact – created to encourage wildlife and pollination through the selection of plants that have been chosen such as Lavender, Sambucus and Hebe to the bee and hedgehog hotels hidden in amongst the design.
The workshop allowed the children to practice their knowledge in an engaging way using a real, outdoor environment, in addition to taking the pressure off indoor classroom learning.
Phoebe Dove, class teacher at St Mark and All Saints Primary School said: “Our school cherishes the value of children being outdoors and learning about nature, which has such a positive effect on the minds and wellbeing of our young learners.
“The workshop really captured the children's interest and helped them build on existing knowledge, as well as learning plenty of new hints and tips. They came away excited by the wonderful donation of bug hotels from Cala and are looking forward to using these to create habitats for insects in the school grounds where we already have a wonderful forest school and farm.
“It was a very stimulating and fun afternoon!”
Lizzie Foster, Education Officer at Surrey Wildlife Trust, said: “It was a great opportunity to discuss with the children how they might think about making a garden more wildlife-friendly.
“If space for nature is considered correctly, our gardens, no matter the size, can become important stepping-stones in the landscape allowing wildlife the space to move and thrive.
“With more than 20,000 hectares of gardens in Surrey, these are a vital resource to help restore wildlife across our county.”
Hannah Colbran, Sales & Marketing Director at Cala Homes (South Home Counties) said: “We were delighted to see and hear the children enjoying what they learnt through the workshop. It’s so important that they’re able to experience outdoor learning like this, especially with the growing need to protect our environment. I hope the workshop will act as a lasting memory for them.”
Ockford Park is a popular development of 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom homes set in the desirable market town of Godalming. Showhomes are open daily from 10am to 5pm by appointment and prices start from £447,500*. For more information on how to secure your 2022 move to Ockford Park call 01483 342417.
