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Talks, walks, storytelling and nature connection.
Deer Safaris, nature walks, ecology talks, forest bathing and a multitude of nature inspired workshops and activities will all commence from the nature and nurture hub.
Whilst many talks and activities are included with an entry ticket, please note that some of the workshops are paid enhancements, bookable through the website.
SATISH KUMAR
Peace-pilgrim, life-long activist, and former monk, Satish Kumar has been inspiring global change for over 50 years. He undertook a pilgrimage for peace, walking for two years without money from India to America for the cause of nuclear disarmament. Now in his 80s, Satish has devoted his life to campaigning for ecological regeneration and social justice. He is a world-renown author and international speaker, founder of The Resurgence Trust and Editor Emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist – a change-making magazine he edited for over 40 years.
Photograph © Daniel Elkan 2022
DEER SAFARI
Boconnoc Deer Park is known as far back as 1540, Henry VIII’s map of coastal fortifications showed Boconnoc House surrounded by a deer park. It is abundant with beech, oak, ash, and willow trees and is home to 188 lichen species, including the only known British site for Porcina Hibernica. The Deer Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is considered the best old-growth southern oceanic woodland in the South West of England.
Join us for a fascinating wildlife adventure at Boconnoc Estate. Hop on board the tractor-trailer with our Deer Ranger who will lead you on a safari through beautiful grounds to the ancient Deer Park, where you’ll have the opportunity to observe these graceful creatures in action.
The Safari will start with a talk all about the Deer, their habits and the work that goes into running the Deer Park, following this visitors will be taken to the Deer Park on a tractor-trailer to observe the herd. The Safari will take around 2 hours and is suitable for all ages.
Sessions are available to book now.
Saturday, 5th July 2025
08:00 - 10:00
11:00 - 13:00
14:00 - 16:00
17:00 - 19:00
TREE LIFE DRAWING
Join Polly from Love Club for a unique Life Drawing session, using the trees as our glorious models.
The session invites you to slow down, connect with nature, and explore the intricate beauty of trees through art.
In this session, we'll observe the shapes, textures, and patterns of these majestic natural sculptures, capturing their essence with guided drawing exercises and prompts.
Whether you're a seasoned artist or new to drawing, this relaxed workshop will help you see trees from a fresh perspective and develop your own artistic style. Basic materials provided, but feel free to bring any notebooks or special materials you might have, along with something cozy to wear or sit on, and let nature inspire your creativity!
CHRIS PARK
Chris will bring Mead Ceremonies, Druid Storytelling and Breton Dancing to 2025.
BOCONNOC TREE SAFARI
Join Tim Kellet, from the Cornwall Ancient Tree Forum as he leads an Ancient Tree Safari through the woodlands of the Boconnoc Estate.
With an introductory talk, guests will learn about ancient trees and their special value to our culture, landscape and biodiversity before investigating the ancient landscape of Boconnoc.
Explore the grounds, deer park, wood pasture and woodland to gain an insight into the amazing wildlife that lives on the estate, as well as learning how we age trees and the integral part that trees have played within communities at Boconnoc throughout history.
Guests will visit some of the oldest trees on the estate where our guide will measure and estimate the age of the trees.
We will explore their own habitats and the wildlife they support. During the walk you will have time to ask questions, photograph and measure some trees and find out why Oliver Rackham said, “one 500-year-old oak is more valuable to biodiversity than 10,000 100-year-old oaks!”
Please note, there will be uneven ground during this walk, so participants must wear suitable clothing and shoes and be able to get on and off the tractor trailer unaided.
Sunday, 6th July 2025
10:00 - 12:00
14:00 - 16:00
VOICE & BODY PERCUSSION WORKSHOP
Liz Ikamba’s Voice & Body Percussion Workshop is an exploration of our innate creativity that taps into our authentic embodied voice, incorporating movement and body percussion to bring out a sense of connection and play. The games and exercises are fun, collaborative and accessible, offering tools for in-the-moment music-making, with the option of also learning songs from around the world in different languages, including Lingala (DR Congo) and Swahili.
The workshops are open to all levels and include:
Fun, collaborative games and tools for in-the-moment music-making.
Movement and sound-based practices for release and well being
Sounding and connecting with the resonance of your natural, embodied voice
Circle Singing (group singing connected to ancestral ways)
Songs & song rounds
An exploration in connection to self, environment and other through sound.
THE BODY LANGUAGE OF TREES WITH KEITH ALEXANDER
Boconnoc is the oldest surviving deer park in Cornwall and the top site for its numbers of ancient oak and other veteran trees. This long and unbroken continuity of habitat plus the current site quality makes it the most important site in the county for the special invertebrates that live in decaying wood.
Dr Keith Alexander is the leading UK authority on these invertebrates and has been carrying out a study at Boconnoc. A short introductory illustrated talk will be followed by a guided walk explaining the features of the trees that make them important and including searches for some examples of the associated wildlife
FOREST BATHING WITH PAUL SIMMONS
Forest bathing is a playful, slow and childlike exploration of the woodland surroundings with all our senses.
It is in our genetic makeup from literally millions of years spent in the forests of the world.
Forest Bathing is a clinically-proven therapy that lasts for days. It improves your body’s natural resistance to many stress-related illnesses through a slow reconnection with nature in our local woods using all your senses.
Your breathing will slow and deepen, your sense of hearing will become more acute, your brain will stop thinking of everyday list of “to do’s” and your natural surroundings will envelope you in its peace and serenity. You will be Home.
We all deserve a bit of peace and to slow down. There is no mysticism and “signs from above”. It’s ingrained in our DNA so it’s just about rediscovering the slow ways. Something I reckon we all yearn for.
FERMENTING WORKSHOP WITH GUTSY NUTRITION
Learn how to make the under-sung hero of ferments, Sauerkraut.
This part demonstration, part interactive session will focus on gut health as a cornerstone of overall well-being, with fermented food a key ally in our journey to better microbial balance and support.
Sauerkraut is easy to make and adaptable to every taste and preference out there. This workshop will teach you the basic method, which you can take off in any direction you want afterwards. And we’ll chat all things gutsy and microbial while we massage our cabbages.
THE MEDIEVAL PARADISE- EXPLORING BOCONNOC'S DEER PARK
Boconnoc is famous for its massive and gnarled ancient oaks and for their eye-catching role in an especially grand and glorious landscape.
Those to the west and south of the house were established and then maintained by being within a deer park, a large and very private enclosure attached to the earliest great house at Boconnoc, by the Carminow family, probably in the 1390s. It is believed that the Carminows and the other great families that followed them at Boconnoc, like the Pitts, Grenvilles and Fortescues, all maintained the park and its herd, making Boconnoc now the longest-lasting park in all Cornwall. The venison from Boconnoc was also reckoned to be as delicious as that from any of the other great parks including those at Godolphin and Carclew.
Our walk (a mile or two over undulating ground) will take in lengths of the now ancient deer park pale (a massive version of a Cornish hedge), as well as some of those ancient trees. And we will discuss how radical a change in land use and landscape was entailed by the establishment of a deer park in the previously open countryside of medieval Cornwall. And we will appreciate why deer parks are often where we find our richest biodiversity, from the meadows and pastures as well as in the great trees themselves, and our best-preserved historic landscapes – the parks separating off and protecting from the plough the earthworks of earlier ways of working the land.