We’ve decided to go for a more intimate forest party that will ensure we have even less impact on the woods we operate in and provide a greater experience for you and your guests.
To that end we will be not going over a party size of 20 children for anyone that books from September 2022.
New Menu Too
To speed up parties we will also be ditching food options that take a long time on the fire because they are cooked individually. We will of course be keeping smores but pancakes, brioche and charred chorizo are out. But we are keeping the very popular chocolate banana fondue as an extra and finishing the party on a BANG with campfire popcorn.
You can treat adults or kids with an extra menu item HONEY CHORIZO which is an improved recipe on the individually cooked charred chorizo. We take bitesize chunks of chorizo and pan fry them in their own juices and then drizzle with honey. We serve them up in a pan for people to skewer with a stick and help themselves.
We also can GO VEGGIE all round now we have discovered Richmond sausages which taste just like the real thing. But if meat is your thing we will continue to cook pork sausages in buns for kids and bacon for attending adults.
And as usual tea, coffee and squash (when its hot) or hot chocolate (when its cold) are included and FREE.
New party sizes
2022 has been an interesting year with more rave reviews from our customers but a couple of complaints from local residents to the woods we operate in. They have expressed concern about usage and parking. Impact on the woods is primarily from visitor numbers from lockdown and the swathes of people having time to connect with nature but unfortunately also trampling flora. The parking complaints we don’t think reasonable given that customers are legally parked and access isn’t restricted. We cannot accept liability for members of the public driving and parking on public roads.
However, all in all, after discussing usage with our site owners, the Woodland Trust, local Conservation Groups and also our staff reflecting on the different experience between a larger party and a smaller one we think we can give better, more sustainable, more nature orientated experiences if we stay within a limit of 20 children maximum. We have no limit on attending adults as they provide the necessary care for their children but we think about one car per family is about right.
The limit of children for schools and nurseries remains at a class size approx. 30 as these tend to be one vehicle (a coach) and have teachers present.
New prices
We’ve tried to hold back the increase but cost of living, staff wages, NI, diesel, food, consumables have all taken their toll. A party for up to 12 children is now 245, for up to 16 is 270 and up to 20 is 295 in total. Its still a bargain with up to 2 and half hours entertainment for kids and grown ups with food and drink thrown in including marshmallow smores and a special birthday badge.
As before there is a 75 deposit to secure the booking (in pen in the diary) with final payment of the balance about a week before the big day. Just click the appropriate button on the BOOK NOW page.
Of course we will honour parties booked and deposit paid before 1st September 22 with the old prices. But as our website has changed you won’t be able to use the final payment buttons which will have the new prices. Get in touch to arrange payment (bank transfer or paypal invoice).
New site specific experiences
Mud pie bake off at Lumb Brook
Lumb Brook Valley, Appleton, is the wood with the stream so we will be making the most of that. It now has a local conservation group which has specific objectives with Hazel Coppicing such as wildlife dead hedging. In practice this means we can’t do dens other than a few sticks against a tree at our base camp. Also, as the wood is far more sensitive to usage since lockdown we are concentrating on experiences that will be centred around our base camp area making the most of water play in the stream - gutters, slide, stony dams and mud bake off. This fits a younger child’s party really well as its a big adventure that actually doesn’t involve that much walking. Prepare for fun and prepare to get wet and muddy (parents too). Our site licence also avoids Spring (when this ancient woods flowers are at their most sensitive) so expect to be able to cool off in the shady stream from July onwards.
Bounce Net available at Gorse Covert Mounds and New Moss Wood
Gorse Covert Mounds in Birchwood is quite simply our best site for dens. There’s lots of wood from woodland management and moss regeneration work plus once from early summer there is lots of bracken. Bracken can get out of control and effect biodiversity so we are fine to uproot it to make thatch. The site has a bit more of a walk in than our other sites making it ideal for hunts (bear and nursery rhyme/tale hunts) and our base camp has lots of great trees for hammocks and the bounce net.
St Benedicts Wood in Rainhill has its own private car park and meadow. This is perfect for when mobility is an issue as there are good paths from the car park to base camp. Its a good all rounder and has enough space for use to unfurl the giant parachute to play with plus hammocks.
New Moss near Cadishead is great for smaller parties centred at base camp and a good all rounder. Lots of sticks so good for traditional forest school plus good trees for the bounce net and hammocks.
Snidley Moor in Frodsham is currently not available due to our main access being restricted to parking again as a result from so many people visiting it over lockdown.
New sites. We have a couple of avenues to explore for new woodland and we’ll let you know!