Wildflower hunting, sculpture trails and music festivals – some summer plans

I love wildflowers. This is not a surprise to anyone who follows me on instagram. (Handy link over there in the sidebar if that isn’t you. If you’ve arrived here from instagram, nice to see you!)

Today I got sent a press release about a great way to get kids into the idea of wildflower hunting – I see it a bit like a bear hunt, but without quite the same potential for terror 😉

Basically, if you bob over to Plantlife’s Great British Wildflower Hunt you can register for free, download printable sheets suitable to countryside/woodland/town and go wildflower spotting. (Do read up on what not to do in the way of picking them etc.) Or you can use your mobile and spot as you go – there’s lots of information about the different flowers on the website, and different flowers get you different points if your children thrive on a bit of competition like mine. Registering what you find on the site will feed back to Plantlife about how wildflowers are doing across the country, and given how important they are to our ecology, that seems like a pretty cool thing to do too.

Another thing to look at is whether you’ve any kind of sculpture trail near you – Bath is a bit far for us sadly and Ed Sheerham is long gone from Ipswich, but the owls around Mulberry Park look utterly fabulous. Norwich appears to be our nearest event this year according to the Wild in Art site which lists at least some of the sculpture trails around the country. (Apparently Ipswich is getting Elmers next year, which should be fun.)

If it wasn’t for the fact Small (aka (NotSo)SmallTeen) is performing with Ipswich Guitar School at Sax Music Fest on the same day, I’d have been very tempted by this Norris Museum event not least because one of the Kentwell Players is performing.

Annual Ipswich Guitar School Concert, Sunday evening

A post shared by Tim Marchant (@tjmarchant) on

So, what do you do to get out and about in the summer? Got any suggestions for me?


Comments

3 responses to “Wildflower hunting, sculpture trails and music festivals – some summer plans”

  1. Sarah avatar

    Maybe not close to you, sorry, but we’re looking forward to the Worcester Stands Tall trail in aid of St Richards Hospice. Beautiful decorated giraffes gracing my hometown over the summer

    1. Jax Blunt avatar
      Jax Blunt

      Is that a wild in art one? Giraffes sound brilliant 🙂

      1.  avatar
        Anonymous

        Yes it is Wild In Art. Have only seen 3 close up so far. Will work on the rest very soon. They’re beautiful and so interesting ?