10 years

Celebrating a decade in Kaliwood

Yes, it’s 10 years since the Clarke and Simpson auction, when I purchased the wood for £45,000, uncertain about its future, but knowing I wanted to share it.

A decade of Kaliwoods (a blink of an eye for a wood).

The celebration was creatively interpreted in 10 wood stations with a progression around around the wood, enacted by the cast of children and adults from Kinda Forest School, staring Bo (Blackwing, sabre tooth, water fox, also known as Volpus Volpus), Leon Bedwell, Sky and Brook. Directed by the great Pippa Guard, (whose idea it was to star the KFS children). The script in PDF form is at the end. An outline and thanks as follows:

1.Auction

June 17th 2014. Clark & Simpson auction. 28 days after the auction, I came to the wood with Kali and a bottle of champagne and made this little Home Movie

2.Coppicing and woodworking

An Oak Nuttery, the wood was initially planted for utility: for hazel coppice and oak standards. Over 10 years, under the guidance of Paul Jackson, we completed the first full coppice cycle this year, 2024

3. Cabin

A creative combination of Graham Norgate and Paul Jackson, neither of whom had ever build a cabin before. Made from the oak from the wood, this is a little heaven in the woods.

4. Teachers & Friends

David Mitchell, one of the early people I met, who’d owned a wood for 25 years said to me: ‘The best thing about owning a wood is sharing it’

Here are some of the teachers and friends through the decade, including the dogs and cats buried in the wood.

5. Kinda Forest School

Starting with 4 facilitators and Home Education, it has blossomed in Kaliwoods, expanding to 6 days a week and 40 facilitators.

6. Solar System

Ever wish you could visit other planets in our solar system without launching on a deep-space mission? Here in the woodland you can! Space was our 2019 to 2020 project, and culminated in a light show, that never quite happened with its full flare, due to an event on 19th March 2020

7. Elders/KFFS/Woodsisters

Now in it’s 4th year, Elders Wellbeing in the Wood is an enormously successful and enjoyable project initially led by Shona, it welcomes Elders to the woods every Thursday.

Kinda Forest Family, led by Kally and Nicky, is a tribe for children and adults especially those who are a child at heart.

Woodsisters, run by Mell and her great team of wild women.

8. Time in our Life

2023 was our Compassionate Communities year. Kinda worked with the Pear Tree at the time run by the great Kevin Vaughan. A year long project inviting people to Kaliwoods and the Pear Tree Centre to talk and walk around the ideas of love, life and end of life. Called ‘Time in our Life’.