More About My Journey

A winding path to Forest School…with a few scenic detours

This page is mostly here for my mum, who insists there aren’t enough photos of me on the website. (In my defence: it’s not about me, and I’m usually the one holding the camera.)

I didn’t grow up in a yurt or spend my childhood weaving baskets in a sun-dappled glade — though that would make a great origin story. Mostly I grew up with grass-stained knees, tree climbing, and concocting dubious perfumes from rose petals and dandelions.

Forest School came later. My path here wasn’t a straight line — more like getting a bit lost, then turning up somewhere unexpected, wonderful, and completely right.

I trained as a Forest School practitioner in 2018. Soon after, Leila and I launched our first Thursday group — still going strong, with some original members who now feel like family.

What began as a side project quickly became the best part of my week. Eventually, the pull of the woods won. Starting a Forest School turned out to be one of the most joyful, storage-challenging, and unexpectedly magical decisions I’ve ever made. I wouldn’t trade it — though I do sometimes miss impractical dresses and nice shoes.

These days, I spend most of my time outside with brilliant, muddy, curious children — and slightly taller, slightly cleaner teens — all asking excellent questions. We build things, burn things (safely), get soaked, laugh hard, and marvel at fungi, burying beetles, blue tit families, and every single sparkly rock that might be gold. (Spoiler: it never is. Still worth checking.)