We’ve certainly had a very busy month at Stourton Woods.
At the end of May we welcomed Lincolnshire Co-Op who held a celebration day as a thank you for their walk leaders and they made good use of our roundhouse, the old hall lawn and arboretum. They had a great morning with archery, walking cricket, mini golf and garden games to entertain them as well as free health checks followed by a walk (of course!) in the afternoon. Food was provided by two lovely high quality local food suppliers: Curry Jacks and Amy Jobe’s Lincoln Russet enjoyed in the shade of our roundhouse.
We then hosted some night walks as part of the Lincolnshire Wolds Outdoors Festival which gave visitors the chance to see the estate and woodland at dusk.
We rounded off the Lincolnshire Wolds Outdoors Festival with our very own Picnic in the Woods event. We opened the door to campers who had the use of the estate from Friday evening until Sunday evening. Then on Sunday we opened our gates to visitors to enjoy garden games, walks around the estate trails, and try their hands at orienteering whilst enjoying food from the Choowee Cookie Company and Gourmazin. It was a lovely day and always great to welcome visitors to enjoy what we have the pleasure of walking around almost every day. If you attended the event we’d love to hear your feedback. Please take a moment to complete our survey and be in with the chance to win a goodie bag!
Nicky Marshall, the Somatics Coach held a somatics self-care day in the safari tent and around the arboretum. If you haven’t heard about somatics before it’s well worth investigating. It involves gentle, simple movement to aid rest, relaxation and recovery.
However, there’s no rest for the wicked and we are in July looking forward to hosting some private parties, group visits and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School from Horncastle, which we’ll fill you in on in our next news story.
Stourton Sunflower Experience – Sunday 23rd & Sunday 30th July
Well, actually setting dates for this one is quite hard as we are completely reliant on mother nature to work her magic…. however, we are fairly confident that the sunflowers will be blooming on these dates. You can book to come and enjoy the Stourton Sunflower Experience via our website here with a tractor and trailer ride taking you directly to (& from!) our Sunflower field. The Sunflower field features a 1km (approx) walking trail through the field of sunflowers. You can enjoy them at your leisure in full bloom taking some wonderful photos of the sunflowers along your way. There will also be a designated ‘picking area’ of the field to cut your stems & take home – so don’t forget your secateurs/scissors!
The tractor and trailers will drive to and from the sunflower fields continually so once you get here you may need to wait a short period of time for your ride. Once up at the field refreshments and a portable loo is available and you are free to loiter for as long as you wish to enjoy the beauty of the flowers in the sunshine.
Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for images of the field in full bloom!
August Bank Holiday Camping
Want to go away for August Bank Holiday weekend? Then look no further. We are offering camping for tents, caravan and motor homes at Stourton Woods from Friday 25th August until Monday 28th August. You can enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods with access to our walking trails and, being on the edge of the beautiful Lincolnshire Wolds with easy access to both the coast and historic Lincoln, you can use our location as a base to explore the surrounding area.
You will be able to book ‘wild’ pitches within the beautiful arboretum online soon – whilst there is no electric hook-up there is access to water and fully flushing loos. Keep an eye on social media to book your place soon! You can even get a free tractor & trailer ride up to the Water Tower Pub night (& back) on Sunday evening…
Water Tower Pub Night; Sunday 27th August
On Sunday 27th August, (bank holiday week-end) we are hosting a pub night at our Water Tower. Open from 6pm til dark everyone is very welcome! There will be a licensed bar with local ales, wine and soft drinks with venison burgers on offer as well as live music and a fun quiz. There’s no need to book.
Tractor and trailer drop offs and collections will be available for any Bank Holiday campers who are staying in the arboretum & wish to join in the fun on Sunday night.
We hope to see you there!
As well as all of the above parties, events and tours, wedding season is in full swing and we are welcoming lots of happy couples over the summer months to the woods to celebrate their love for each other with their nearest and dearest. We have recently received a lovely review from one the couples who recently celebrated here so we will allow them to blow our trumpet for us:
“5 stars doesn’t seem enough! The most beautiful, peaceful and incredible wedding venue! Julie went above and beyond both before and on our wedding day we would have been lost without her! I can’t recommend this venue enough if you want a relaxed fun beautiful wedding”
Our very popular venison BBQ Pack is back in stock. It is the perfect selection for everyone to enjoy grilling at home and great to feed a hungry family. Costing just £30 the BBQ pack contains:
These BBQ packs are available to order online for collection from farm office.
As we continue to manage our woodland and clear up after winter we are busy converting any removed or fallen trees into woodchip. Once through the chipper we grade, process and bag the products ready for delivery. In just a few hours the chipper and the trailers had almost filled the shed at the farm!
Just before our Picnic in the Woods event, we managed to successfully complete the timber cladding on our shipping containers sited at the entrance to the arboretum. They not only look much smarter but we think that they fit into their natural surroundings much better! Well done team!
We are waiting with baited breath for the start of harvest. Our first stop will either be rape or our winter barley crop. The dry and warm spell of weather that we have recently enjoyed is certainly helping the crops get ready. Fingers crossed it lasts.
In the meantime, we are readying ourselves for the busy harvest period. We are clearing out and cleaning all our corn storage from last year and ensuring that all of our equipment is in tip top condition.
Our deer calving season is coming to a close and we have nothing to report other than lots of happy, healthy calves pronking around our deer fields, gaining confidence every day. Red deer are very natural mothers and almost all of our new mum’s have taken to their parental duties very well. It really is our favourite time of year and whilst we check on them regularly unfortunately, we seldom get the opportunity to watch them all day which would be lovely!
Reared here on the farm, professionally butchered & packaged for us by local butchers and labelled here, we deliver direct to your door in our veni-van across Lincolnshire, freshly frozen venison is also available for delivery nationwide!
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