Open Day welcomes new visitors to Carymoor

Our Open Day on 22nd August drew many new visitors

Our Open Day on the 22nd August was a great opportunity to showcase all the elements that make Carymoor a really special place for so many people.   Over 150 people joined us on the day and spread out across the site, exploring the many different areas of the site.

We were delighted to be joined by so many volunteers, who brought their friends and family to show them where they spend their time. 

As well as many familiar faces we were also joined by lots of families and individuals who had never been to Carymoor before, and were interested to find out more about what goes on.

The lovely warm day, was perfect for our site tours, where we showed upwards of 30 people around the willow plantation, woodland area, long pond and then headed up onto the lanfill to discuss the history of the site and try to visualise the vast quantity of rubbish beneath our feet whilst the birds sang above our heads.

Children and their families took part in a number of different activities from making sticky caterpillars decorated with natural items found on site, creating beautiful willow headdresses with flowers from the sensory gardens, pond dipping, exploring our trails and chatting to our Education Team who were on hand to answer any questions. 

Visitors could watch birds being ringed and chat to our volunteer orthinologists about the process, and find out more about the different birds that make their homes on our reserve.

Rob from the FIXY van, and Simon from Donate IT,  reported a good number of items donated for recycling and managed to mend a couple of things on the day as well as raising awareness of local repair cafes and ways to recycle old tech.

An area on the landfill known at the Bee Meadow was treated to an annual haircut by Conservation Officer Neil Gemmel who was demonstrating traditional sycthing techniques and explaining the visitors the benefits of conservation crafts and skills for wildlife.

Walking into the lovely cool strawbale house, visitors could experience how our Eco buildings not only look beautiful but are excellently insulated from the outdoor elements.  This lovely space, which has a woodburner for the winter months, is a hub for our volunteers who enjoy it's welcoming space after a morning of activity on site.  There was information on offer about our various volunteering groups as well as details of forthcoming courses on offer.  

The Waste Tunnel was a great talking point for those who ventured up through the orchard to find it buried on the hilltop.  It is a wonderful resource for visiting groups, and a trip down memory lane which prompts discussion about how we used to deal with rubbish and what happens to it now.

And then of course, the cafe.  Volunteers from Care4Cary helped us on the day, and provided us with donated cakes to sell alongside those kindly donated by our own volunteers and staff.  The donations received on the day will support our work with wildlife on the reserve.

Thank you to everyone who came, volunteered their time, baked cakes and biscuits, donated items for sale, helped with demonstations, and helped us spread the word.