Round trip!

Had a full-on day at Wakehurst today with a group of Year 8 geography students. Starting with an activity in the lab, we then moved to a wetland area for pond dipping then carried on down to the Field Study Centre and past the nature reserve. En route we stopped at various interesting places and they did a field sketch of Ardingly Reservoir. We even managed a short stop at the Talking Totems:

"Carved using a chainsaw, these represent native American stories and uses of North American trees, including red alder, Douglas fir, pignut hickory and alligator wood or sweet gum. Two of the totems have slots carefully carved into them to resonate when struck by the wooden claves on hand for children (and adults alike!)."

When we got back to the main garden they carried out a visitor survey and also had to imagine the pros and cons of Wakehurst's layout and facilities for different groups of people, such as the disabled or parents with young children.

All in all, a pretty good, action-packed day round almost the entire site!

This is probably better 'large'....