Kendal Community Roots Open Garden

It may have been very cold and even snowing slightly but that didn't deter us from getting on our bikes and heading out:

My son was very nervous having not cycled for weeks due to the weather but after a few tricky moments he did manage some proper riding:

Our destination was the Open Day at Community Roots which is a new project combining students and staff from The Queen Katherine School, adult volunteers and young people not in education or employment (NEETs). The full project started in January and today was a chance for the gardens to be shown to the community plus recruiting new volunteers. There was plenty of things to see and do.

Wood Carving

Andy Levy is a local craftsman who carves wood using a chain saw! It makes for an impressive demonstration and my children were very impressed with his work:

Can you guess what he is making here:

Science Garden

There was also plenty to see in the gardens that are used by students from QKS for science projects:

Bird Spotting

Bug Hotel

My son can't wait until he is big enough to go to QKS (only 6 years to wait!) and go in the gardens more often.

Wetheriggs Zoo and Animal Sanctuary

This was the bit I lost my daughter to! Any chance to meet and touch cute furry animals at the minute... She was in seventh heaven holding mice and rabbits:

They gave me plenty of advice about future ownership of rabbits and guinea pigs and are looking forward to going to visit the sanctuary itself sometime. 

Fortified by wonderful soup and cakes my son and I checked out some of the lovely mosaics that can be found in the garden:

We came back to discover my daughter had dragged herself away from the animals and was learning wood carving with Sam Robinson:

After a while her little brother was persuaded to have a go too:

Story Telling

One of the highlights of the afternoon was a story telling session with Grasmere based Taffy Thomas. He had an audience of children and grown ups entranced with his tales:

There was a fair amount of audience participation too:

All in all a fab day out for the family despite the cold and I hope the project does well - maybe we will get to volunteer to help it all. Meanwhile here is my video of the trip: