Roundhouse Receives International Acclaim!

The new Roundhouse has now been used by Forest Tots for the last two Fridays. It was particularly popular on Fri 12th April when a very heavy shower of rain had people scampering inside to keep dry.

Both Fridays new parents and toddlers have turned up for the first time and the Forest Tots organisers are planning for a busy summer. If the weather's anything like last summer they will certainly be glad of the roundhouse to shelter in at times.

The local paper (The Forest of Dean & Wye Valley Review) featured a nice 1/2 page article in last weeks edition and the Forest Tots Facebook page has been going viral with comments about the roundhouse with 'likes' being posted in America and other countries.

Tony Wrench, the Roundhouse Course Trainer, has just put a video up on YouTube about how to build a roundhouse that features our roundhouse. So if you want more information about how to build a roundhouse than shown in our last Blog post then have a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w42xQNov9qA

Roundhouse

For the last year we've been planning to build a roundhouse in the Centre Garden. It will provide a great shelter for Forest Tots - the Outdoor Parent and Toddler Group who visit every Friday - see Blog post March 12. We also intend to use it as a shelter when running bushcraft sessions. 

So How Do You Make a Roundhouse?:

1: Find someone who is an expert at making roundhouses - Tony Wrench

2:  Recruit lots of enthusiastic people who want to learn how to build a roundhouse. Provide warm and comfortable accommodation for them.

3: Source lots of wood. The majority of our wood was sourced within 50 metres of the build site. Additional wood came from the offcuts from a local sawmill and also scrap wood from the classroom build.

4: Mix ingredients 1-3 together.

6: Simmer on a low heat - averaging 3 degrees Centigrade! for 5 days

7: At this point you will have got the skelton of a roundhouse - a wooden henge and reciprocal frame roof.

8: Rest for two days so that you are ready to continue with renewed vigour

9: Clad the roof leaving a hole for light that you later cover with a recycled van windscreen to keep out the rain.

10: Cover with old carpet and then a waterproof membrane before cutting turfs 20 metres away to put on as a living roof.

11: Mix a cob from clay, sand and water to bind the log round wall together.

12: Add some magic in the form of recycled bottles that glow in the sunlight.

13: And put in a few port holes at toddler height made from old washing machine doors.

14: Feel a sense of satisfaction with a job well done.

15: Have an opening ceremony the next day with one of the main user groups - Forest Tots and find out what they think about your wonderful creation.



16: Well we think that's a thumbs up from the toddlers.

17: What a fantastic achievement from a great bunch of people in only two weeks that will give great enjoyment to many people for many years to come.

Forest Tots

For the past seven months we have been hosting an outdoor based Parent and Toddler Group in the Centre garden on Friday afternoons between 12:30 and 14:30. The group call themself Forest Tots and they base themselves completely outdoors whatever the weather. They seem to be lucky and it's only rained once when they have been here!

Their philosophy fits very comfortably with ours and is based around an ethos of allowing children to explore nature and experience the outdoors. They usually have one structured activity such as making mud monsters etc. but then allow the children to direct their own play as much as possible. The stream running into our pond always seems to be a popular draw and provides great natural waterplay. They've got waterproofs they can lend out and recommend a full change of clothing but believe getting wet is sometimes all part of the experience.

From a modest start with three families they have already expanded rapidly with up to 14 families attending at a time. The group is registered with PATA (Parent and Toddler Association) and is a 'flagship' group for the work they do outdoors. There are exciting potential plans for the future including the hope that we may be able to match fund them to have a Roundhouse Shelter built in the Centre Grounds that both our groups can use.

There's a link to the Forest Tots website here and on the right hand side where you can find out more about what they do if you're interested.

As most of our residential groups leave after lunch at about 13:30 we've sometimes been able to get involved as well. The above picture shows Dom extending his 'teaching range' to work with one year olds!

We think 'Forest Tots' are doing fantastic work and are pleased to be able to work in partnership with them and wish them every success in the future.