Heligan Wild Week
Wild Week returns to The Lost Gardens of Heligan this May half term and you’re invited to rediscover the wild, its importance, its beauty, and our place within it.
We’re Wild about Wildlife and even wilder about Wild Week! This much-loved event will return to Heligan this May half term as we look to run free, connect with nature, leave the modern world at home, and give in to our wild sides. Come along to hone your survival skills and enjoy a week of creative outdoor play in your favourite half term habitat of Heligan. Children young and old are welcome to join in, grubby knees are guaranteed, with our promise to Rewild them.
Wild Week is Inspired by Heligan habitats and inhabitants, and will bring you closer to learn about the incredible creatures right here in Cornwall, and why they are so fascinating and important. Never has it been so vital but to protect the Wild.
‘Wildlife in the British Isles can be just as "dramatic and spectacular" as anything elsewhere else in the world’, Says Sir David Attenborough.
It is simply terrifying how nearly half of British wildlife species have declined since 1970.
"Though rich in places, Britain as a whole is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world," Sir David says.
"Never has there been a more important time to invest in our own wildlife - to try and set an example for the rest of the world and restore our once wild isles for future generations."
‘’An understanding of the natural world is a source of not only great curiosity, but great fulfilment’.
Start your Heligan adventure by identifying with your inner wild animal that lives in one of Heligan’s varied habitats. Will you be the social and prickly hedgehog, the elegant and daring Deer, our nighttime flying friend, the pipistrelle bat, or the clever and crafty stoat?
Bring together your friends and family, paint your faces, create your wild head dress and get ready to get stuck into our wild activities. (Suitable for all ages.)
How we will Re-Wild them…..
Discover our popular hunting and survival skills enclosure where the team from Canoe Cornwall will teach you how to throw an axe with the precision of a hunting fox, and to take aim and fire like a swooping owl, with our target practice lessons. What skills for hunting and survival in the wild will you learn? And how competitive will the parents become this year?
(Lessons are open to all ages on a first come first served basis)
After you’ve explored, had fun and awakened your Wild side, it may feel time to wind down and chill out by our campfire, to toast some marshmallows and to take in the stunning scenery.
Learn some simple bushcraft skills; try your hand at fire striking and work together with your friends and family to make rope bracelets and create your very own Wild Nature headdresses.
Additional games this year will include ‘I have no I ‘deer’ True or false game, Long jump challenges, Hedgehogs & hazards giant board game and stoat racing.
Venture down to our wildlife Hide to learn more about our recent re-introduction of beavers into our estate, to watch live video’s of our nesting barn owls and to watch the variety of bird species that make our hide their home. Why not stop by the ‘Voices from the Lost Gardens’ shepherds’ huts to engage and be entertained by the Springs interviews with ‘The hedgehog’, ‘The Bluebell, ‘The Buff tailed bumblebee’ and ‘The pipistrelle bat’.
With nature inspired crafts and engaging photographic displays that tell the story of Wild Heligan and its residents, you will become inspired to keep introducing wildlife-based activities into your lives.
Our ‘Play & Graze’ outlet will be ready to serve up the best of Cornish ice-creams, snacks and refreshments, and our Heligan BBQ will have a wild menu you won’t be able to resist.
All Heligan Wild Week activities are included within normal garden admission charges.
And if that’s not enough…….
Our Estate team are ready to lead you on an exciting wild bug hunt through our grassland’s habitat. What will you find living in the meadows and hedgerows at Heligan? Which creatures make Heligan their home and why is it so important to take care of them and their habitats? Our wildlife experts are ready to tell you more. (Clothing that covers arms and legs is advisable for taking part in the wild bug hunts. Places are limited and are given on a first come first served basis) Daily at 2:30pm, leaving from The Wildlife Hide.
Visit estate on Film to learn more about how we manage our grasslands with regenerative grazing systems, through our stunning Heligan film.
Pop into The Wildlife Hide to learn more about the newest additions to our estate, our pair of Eurasian beavers. This reintroduction of an important key stone species is an exciting moment and something we look forward to sharing. They have now been with us a year and the impact they have had is extraordinary.
