Pizza in the Woods!
The community team welcome a wide range of groups from the surrounding area to come and learn about our tree collection through exploration and discovery.
Some of our work is up in the coppice in Silk Wood, where we teach woodland management skills including coppicing and green wood craft, amongst other activities.
A big part of bringing groups here is so they can have the opportunity to work with their peers, learn self-resilience, and develop their self- confidence. We have found one of the best ways to get people to relax, work together as a team and have fun is to pull together to make a meal out in the woods. In all cultures around the world, food is at the heart of the community – and what better way to practice safe fire lighting and culinary skills in our very own cob oven?!
In March, we brought together our community groups here at the arboretum, to help build a cob oven at their woodland base in Silk Wood. Working alongside Nico from Red Kite Design, participants from Royal Wotton Basset Academy, Nelson Trust, Wild Westonbirt and Stonehouse Youth Council were part of the whole building process; mixing cob ( a mixture of clay, sand and straw), learning about the construction of a cob oven through hands on experience, adding final decorations and making dough before firing up the oven to create the first meal: pizzas! There was even time to have a go at making clay pinch pots and coil pots which are drying out before we try firing them in the oven at a later date.
We were wonderfully supported by members of the community volunteer team and a huge thank you to the estate volunteers who constructed the wooden base for us.
This oven will be used frequently throughout the year to help teach community groups about other food that can be cooked (and foraged) out in the woods without gas or electricity and of course fuel volunteer work parties! It will also be a great addition to our group overnight stays who get to experience Westonbirt at night. Who doesn’t like freshly baked bread in the morning?
Feel free to wander in and take a look!
Karen Price & Claire Goulding, Community Officers
