St John’s pupils’ vision for Welshmill Woods

FROME Town Council’s Wild About Trees officer, Helen Viner, has worked with Year Two children from St John’s First School to explore a vision for play spaces in Welshmill Woods. 

The project follows the installation of 12 eco-friendly ‘fairy doors’ around the woods in 2023, providing a trail/treasure hunt for children and families to enjoy. Both projects aim to integrate play and family activities at Welshmill Woods, while retaining the natural structure and character of the woods.

“The children have loads of brilliant ideas, as you can see from their models, on display at Frome Town Hall from early January,” said Helen. “As part of the project, we visited Rainbow Woods at Bath Skyline, where an elf and fairy trail and play equipment are incorporated into the woodland’s natural layout, encouraging imaginative play and keeping children engaged outdoors, for longer.

“The feedback so far has been really positive and supportive and we’re looking forward to taking the project forward. The next step is finalising drawings of around five or six elements that have come out of the children’s designs, with a view to installing them in the glade area in February/March.”

Comments from St John’s pupils include, “It was exciting looking for the fairy doors. We went to look around, ready to design our own play equipment, and we thought it looked lovely.”

“We enjoyed designing and making equipment that we’d like to see at Welshmill. It was all really exciting!”

The Welshmill Woods designs by Year Two pupils is currently on display at Frome Town Hall. Work is expected to begin on the new pieces of play equipment next month.