Family Summer Workshops beneath the trees

Exciting new range of events for youths and families combining wild cookery, natural arts and crafts and woodland feasts at Surrey Hills Trade Marked Member The Salt Box

The award-winning The Salt Box have just launched a new range of youth and family workshops taking place during the summer holidays, which will be hosted at their new woodland site on the Priory Farm estate in Nutfield, just outside of Redhill.

From wild cookery courses to woodland feasts combined with natural arts and crafts, there’s a wide range of activities in the diary to keep your young ones entertained this summer.

‘We’re really looking forward to welcoming children and adults alike to our events this summer’, says co-founder Christian Armstrong. ‘Since we started The Salt Box, we’ve wanted to share the immersive world of the great outdoors and encourage everyone to live a life in meaningful contact with nature.’ All of the activities are specifically designed to inspire and re-wild both the young and the old, and are all combined with a woodland feast enjoyed around The Salt Box’s signature shared dining tables beneath the trees.

Learn to cook in the great outdoors

The Salt Box are offering family and teen cookery workshops throughout July and August. From mastering the basic steps of fire lighting to learning how to manage your fires appropriately, at these hands-on classes guests will learn to make a collection of dishes in a relaxed and informative  environment, surrounded by the crackle and pop of fires. All of the dishes covered are designed to be cooked over an open-fire, but are equally as achievable as in a conventional kitchen at home!

‘Through our family cookery workshops, we provide a platform for adults and children to learn alongside one another. We want to let children be children, learning by exploring, facing challenges and experiencing the elements of the seasons’, says co-founder Beckie Wingrove, who started the business with her partner Christian. ‘We wholeheartedly believe that cooking is up there as one of the most valuable skills you can teach a child – not only  providing them with an important life skill, but also helping develop maths and coordination skills – and encouraging
adventurous eating.’

And it’s not just about learning to cook a delicious meal. Exposure to the great outdoors has great potential to be a protective factor for the mental health of our young people and adults, something the founders feel very strongly about. All their events and courses also encourage the coming together of people in a natural environment through a shared love of food, ever-more important with friendship becoming a lost art in our increasingly time-poor, high tech world.

Natural Arts with Surrey Art School

This summer season Surrey Hills Trade Marked  Members The Salt Box and Surrey Art School are  inviting young artists and budding chefs to enjoy a wild morning in the woods at their ‘Rewild your Child’ events. The two Surrey-based businesses are joining forces for a series of drop-off workshops for 6-11 year olds, where the beautiful woodland will inspire some wild creative adventures using our natural environment as inspiration!

There are also a range of family-friendly workshops taking place, including a Natural Inks Workshop and Mindful Mandala creative session, for an afternoon of mindfulness in nature.

Natural Crafts & Woodland Feasts

The Salt Box have also teamed up with fellow local businesses The Girl who Gardens and Hedges and Hurdles, for a range of woodland family feasts combined with natural craft workshops. From learning how to make your very own bug hotels, to willow weaving and making flower crowns, there’s sure to be something to inspire your wild child.

Customer Testimonials

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you for our woodland experience last week. Poppy can’t stop telling people about our adventure and loved every second of it, as did I! The whole experience was magical from start to finish and we can’t wait to join you for another workshop soon. The food was delicious, and it was wonderful to see the children enjoying a meal that they had prepared themselves – so proud of their creations. But most of all it was a rare opportunity for me to spend quality time with my daughter away from technology, work pressures and schoolwork. A special day that we will always remember. ” – Lucy and Poppy (Family Wild Things, May 2019)

To find out more, visit https://www.wearethesaltbox.co.uk/family