Family activities on offer at woodland fair

CRAFTSMEN and forestry workers will gather at the National Trust’s Clumber Park this weekend as the 3,800-acre country estate holds its first ever Woodland Fair.

The event will take place in the park, near Worksop, on Saturday and Sunday and organisers say it will showcase products and activities associated with its trees and woodlands.

A spokesman said: “The fair will feature activities for all the family from traditional crafts and stalls to have-a-go sessions and displays.

“Woodland stories will be told by the Green Man of the forest to keep youngsters entertained and the woodland play area will be open where children can let off steam.

“Stalls will showcase handmade crafts, providing an excellent opportunity to get those early Christmas gifts and there will be demonstrations of traditional crafts such as charcoal making, broom making, pyrography and wood turning.

“There will also be a chance to have a go at making a chair leg with a traditional pole lathe, paddling a coracle boat after watching it being built and making your own bird box from Clumber Park timber.”

Other attractions will include heavy horses, which will be doing logging demonstrations throughout the weekend, and a display of some of the heavy machines associated with the timber industry.

The RSPB, the Forestry Commission and the National Trust will be promoting a new woodland bird project over the weekend, designed to reverse the decline of key species of woodland birds such as the spotted flycatcher and lesser spotted woodpecker.

The scheme plans to establish more than 40,000 new trees on Clumber Park over the next five years to help protect declining woodland bird species.

Entry to the Woodland Fair is free of charge but normal vehicle admission charges to Clumber Park apply for those who are not National Trust members.