Children's Activities

Wild Child Online

During school closure and lockdown we ran our Wild Child Online service. There are educational games, and wildlife information aimed at primary age children. The children are now enjoying open-air sessions again but the online resources are available for anyone to use.

Garden bird game

Frogs, damsels and dragons (pond-life information)

Count the prickles on a hedgehog

We also wrote a story (now published)

Walden Countryside - who we are

We are a not-for-profit community interest company. The land at Noakes Grove is owned by Organic Countryside CIC [that's Walden Countryside's official name]

Our main activities centre around our nature reserves but we are not only interested in preserving their wildlife. We are trying to make them more like the Walden Countryside of a century ago:

• Producing local food without the use of pesticides and artificial fertilisers

• Get people using the land: as volunteer workers or simply enjoying the countryside

• Encouraging children to enjoy, and learn about, their countryside

We are not just about creating and managing nature reserves, we want to:

• Persuade local councils and private land-owners to create more public access to areas of countryside

• Promote access to the countryside by campaigning for public rights of way to be kept accessible and adequately signed

Local Wildlife Sites

• There over a hundred local wildlife sites (mostly in private ownership, some publicly owned) in the northern half of Uttlesford.

• Walden Countryside aims to work with the owners of these sites to maintain and improve their value for wildlife

See full details of the sites in your parish.

Helping Walden Countryside

We are a small organisation totally dependent on volunteers to do all the administrative and physical work and to raise the funds we need each year,

There are several ways you can help us financially: which one would suit you?

Become a "Friend of Walden Countryside"

by donating online (you choose how much and how often but we hope you will be able to give about £10 a year). "Friends" get our monthly newsletter via email. For more details and to donate click "Friend".

Help us at no cost to you:

Where do you shop online?

The big names (Amazon, eBay, M & S, John Lewis) or any one of over 4000 other online merchants have all agreed to give us a small percentage of anything you spend with them. All you have to do is register with Easyfundraising.

Just browse online as you normally would and Easyfundraising will tell you when you are visiting a website that has agreed to give donations to Organic Countryside.

PLEASE visit our Easyfundraising page and sign up. It costs you nothing and will be a huge help to us.

Learn more and sign up.

Buy some shares

It is the shareholders of Organic Countryside CIC (the official name of Walden Countryside) who have provided the funds to buy Noakes Grove. Shareholders get no dividends or other financial benefits but they do own and direct the company. Purchase of a minimum of £100 in shares gives life membership of the company (well more than life, you can hand your shares on to the next generation)..

Click for more details.