Meet four inspiring women helping to connect people with nature
March 8, 2022
For International Women’s Day on 8 March, we catch up with inspiring women who are working hard to help connect people with the wonders of nature.
Each gives their own account of how they are connecting people to the natural world – and offers their views on why this link is so important.
Alinah Azadeh
Alinah is the Writer-in Residence for Seven Sisters Country Park and the Sussex Heritage Coast, which both sit within the South Downs National Park.
Since Spring 2020 I have been running creative writing and walking retreats and groups in the Seven Sisters area (and online), inviting cohorts of writers of global heritage to experience or rediscover this extraordinary, chalkland landscape.
Through its rich metaphors – deep time, borders, edges and horizons – we use our writing to explore migration, belonging, loss, climate change, recovery and more equitable futures. My writer residency there, and wider project, We See You Now, encompasses new writing commissions, ongoing retreats, workshops and The Colour of Chalk podcast. The public will be able to use our self-access writing guide and enjoy our audio commissions and events – evoking trans-global connections across the landscape – from this autumn.
Connecting with nature is an act of creative and restorative care, allowing us physical, mental and emotional space to reconnect with ourselves and the ‘more-than-human’ world, free of the pressures and crises of daily life.
The coastline also reminds us in a very visceral way how important it is to care for what is left of it, in this radically changing climate.
Rachel Guy
Rachel Guy is the Reserve Manager for Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve.
Since starting at Kingley Vale, I have actively been trying to connect people with nature. Personally, I feel that it’s so important for mental health. Ten minutes on the reserve, enjoying the view, the wind on your face, walking amongst the trees, is so uplifting.
But I feel that we have got out of touch with what nature is.
I’ve worked closely with the National Park Authority to produce engaging and educational information boards to help people learn about what’s right beneath their feet.
I’ve also had a big volunteer recruitment drive to undertake species surveys like adders and butterflies, so we know what is on the reserve, as well as fixed point photography. If you are interested in helping, please do get in touch!
My focus this year is our 70th anniversary as an National Nature Reserve – lots of activities for everyone to get involved in, so do keep an eye out!
Caroline Harriott
Caroline Harriott is a tenant farmer at Sompting in West Sussex.
I was very lucky to be born and bred on a West Sussex family farm so my connection with nature started at a very early age. My siblings and I worked and played hard in our beautiful countryside .
Being able to pass that good fortune not only on to my children but to a wider audience has been so rewarding.
Through funding from the NFU I have been trained to be a Facetime farmer with schools and, with Covid restrictions lifting, I’m hoping to use my Farmer for Schools training to go into local schools this year.
It’s so important that people connect with nature and the outdoors for the benefit of their mental and physical wellbeing.
We are tenant farmers on Lychpole Farm, Sompting, a beautiful downland, chalk farm where we farm using traditional, rotation of cattle, sheep, grassland and crops which create a vibrant mosaic, benefitting , soil, water, air, flora, fauna, livestock and crops. All the crops we grow are fed back to our animals which is sustainable and has a low carbon footprint.
We love telling our farming story every October at our Lychpole Farm, pumpkin picking field. Our tractor and trailer rides give a whistlestop tour and shows how our farming methods work with nature to produce quality, local food to feed our country, while enhancing the environment for people to enjoy appreciate and most importantly, understand.
Being part of the Arun to Adur farmers cluster group means we can also host an Open Farm Sunday at a different location every year.
Applesham Farm, Steyning , is a marvellous example of a farm working with nature and will be this year’s Open farm host on Sunday 3 July.
Laura Tong
Laura Tong is a National Park Ranger for the Western Downs
A huge amount of the work we do here at the South Downs National Park involves connecting people with nature, whether it’s volunteer groups, events, working with schools or other groups inside the National Park or facilitating access for those groups to come to here and enjoy what it has to offer.
A highlight for me was working with Artscape, a charity that helps people who are socially isolated because of health circumstances.
We took the group to Butser Hill, giving them artistic inspiration for some wonderful art pieces that they later produced, as well as time for quiet contemplation and reflection in a very scenic and special landscape.
There’s a growing evidence that feeling connected to, or simply just enjoying being in the presence of nature, is greatly beneficial to our health and wellbeing. In nature you can slow down, unwind, tune into the environment and explore what it has to offer.
These connections help grow our want to care for the natural world and it’s here we can help inspire future nature custodians so that subsequent generations can also benefit from it.
The South Downs National Park is working on an ambitious plan to increase the amount of land managed for nature from 25% to 33% by 2035.
Working with partners, we will create a nature network spreading across the South Downs National Park making this an even better place for nature and people, where wildlife can flourish, habitats thrive and where everyone can experience nature and wildlife at their best.