Responsibility and appreciation

The Wild Garden offers an important environment for local school children and others to learn about the local environment. The Wychwood Primary School in particular has expressed interest in using the gardens and woods for supervised field trips and we will provide information leaflets to assist them with this. These will also be offered to the leadership of other local youth organisations.

Welcome notices will be established at the two entrances to the Wild Garden and information boards will be created in a convenient location to explain the three key aspects of the Wild Garden namely the Trees and Shrubs, the Wild Life and the Historic Aspects. We will draw on the experience of the Woodlands Trust and nearby Diggers Wood to create the Trees and Shrubs and the Wild Life panels and work with the Wychwood Local History Society and the Oxfordshire Garden Trust on the historic aspects of the Wild Garden.

A programme of talks about the Wild Garden will be developed and offered to local adult organisations including the WI in both Shipton and Milton, the Wychwood Day Centre and the Parent Teachers Association of the local primary school, one aim of which will be to encourage responsible use of the Wild Garden and to explain how the often inadvertent damage to trees, ponds and wildlife can occur when children and dogs are allowed to roam unsupervised.

The key benefit of the education initiatives will be to encourage a responsible attitude towards and a wider appreciation of our local natural and physical environment. This should both allow the wide and peaceful enjoyment of the Wild Garden by all and a positive approach to the environment in general. A secondary benefit will be to encourage the development of the skills required to manage and maintain the Wild Garden. A recent initiative by a local resident to develop dry stone wall skills attracted 18 volunteers and succeeded in restoring a significant length of wall in the locality.