Boots & Brambles Forest School

20/09/2026

“It’s just a pile of mud.” What Instagram can't show you!

⛏️ It started with; One child. One muddy hole. And then THIS happened…🤎

As we post this picture on social media, you’d probably scroll straight past it.
Because… mud isn’t exactly Instagrammable, is it? 😂

But here’s what this picture doesn’t show…
Over the last 2 weeks, across 12 Forest School sessions, children from KS1 all the way to KS4 have been completely captivated by this patch of mud. 🌿

It started with one child saying:
💬 “I’d like to dig.”

So we gave them some tools… and got out of the way.

What followed was pretty magical. ✨
⛏️ Excavators
🔎 Archaeologists
🌿 Naturalists
🗺️ Explorers
🧑‍🔬 Investigators
🏗️ Construction workers
🎨 Artists
👐 Creators
💡 Problem-solvers

They uncovered objects, cleaned and identified them, investigated our land, discovered clay and created a whole clay production line!

Then the hole became a construction site 🚧 — complete with managers, teams, homemade “cement”, pipes and guttering.

And the whole time?
They were talking, negotiating, experimenting, creating, collaborating, problem-solving, persevering and having an absolute blast. ❤️

No worksheet.
No lesson plan.
No adult telling them what the answer should be.
Just curiosity + time + freedom + mud. 🌱🤎

And THAT is the problem with social media.
Because you can photograph the muddy hole…
…but you can’t photograph the hours of engagement, imagination, learning and joy that happened around it.

So yes, to the scrolling world…
It’s just a pile of mud.
To us?
It’s Forest School. 🌿🥾✨
And honestly, we’ll take the muddy hole. Every time. 🤎

17/09/2026

🎃🍂 Halloween - The Forest School Way!👻🌳
Halloween doesn’t need lots of plastic, decorations or stuff to be magical. ✨
At Boots & Brambles Forest School, we’re keeping our spooky season simple, natural and full of outdoor adventure! 🌿

This half term, children can:
🎃 Get creative with nature-based crafts
🍂 Explore the autumn woodland
🔥 Gather around the campfire
♻️ Create using recycled & reclaimed materials
🌳 Play, imagine and discover outdoors
👻 Enjoy a little natural Halloween magic!
This Half Term we’re letting nature set the scene. 🍁✨

🎃 Join us for our Forest School Half Term Sessions and celebrate Halloween the woodland way — muddy hands, autumn adventures and plenty of imagination!

🎃  Halloween Family Session - Monday 26th October 10.30-12 - Open to all ages

👻 Halloween Holiday Clubs - Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th October 10-3 - Ages 6+ (Includes pumpkin carving! 🎃)

📍 St Peter's Church Centre Woodland, Tollerton Lane, Tollerton, NG12 4FT

🍂 Spaces are limited — book your place and come get a little wild this half term! Book via our website www.bootsandbrambles.com

club

12/09/2026

📱 WHAT IF WE STOPPED TRYING TO CAPTURE IT? 🌳

For 12 years, we’ve spent hours creating posts, reels and stories. Taking photographs. Editing videos. Writing captions. Trying to show people what Forest School is.

But why? 🤔
Because the truth is… you can’t really capture it.

You can’t capture the child who suddenly sits still for 20 minutes, completely absorbed in watching a bird. 🔭

Or the child who “can’t focus” in a classroom but spends an hour building, climbing and creating in the woods. 🌿

Or the teenager who hasn’t had enough space to simply play for years — and suddenly they’re swinging from a rope, laughing, getting muddy and just being a kid again. ❤️

Those are the moments that matter.
And they often (rightly) happen when the phone is in your pocket. 📱⬇️

Somewhere along the way, we realised we were spending hours trying to share our Forest School online… while Forest School itself is about putting the screen down and being present.

And honestly? Social media can suck you in...
Scrolling. Comparing. Wondering why other people had more followers, more resources, more adventures, more everything.

So we started asking ourselves:
Why are we doing this?
Why spend hours creating content when we could be spending those hours noticing what’s happening right in front of us? We aren't "content creators" or "influencers." We are Forest School Leaders. What happens in the woods is what matters, not the images or content we share.

Maybe Forest School doesn’t need to be captured.
Maybe it just needs to be experienced. 🌱
So we’re stepping back.
Less scrolling.
Less comparing.
Less creating for the sake of creating.
More trees. 🌳
More mud. 🪵
More play. 🪢
More connection. ❤️
More being present. 🌿
And if you see less of us on here…
You’ll know why.
We’re probably too busy living it. 🌱✨

08/09/2026

🌟 LAST HOUR TO ENTER! 🌟
SHARE AWAY!!

🌿🎉 SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY! 🎉🌿 ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄

After a fantastic summer break filled with family sessions, holiday clubs, woodland adventures and plenty of outdoor fun, we’re getting ready to welcome the new school year… and we want to celebrate! 🍂📚🍎

Here at Boots & Brambles Forest School we’re incredibly privileged to work with a wonderful range of schools across Nottinghamshire — and we’d LOVE to extend that a little further! 💚

🌳 We are running a SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY ... ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄
That’s right… a whole half day of outdoor learning, exploring, playing and adventure at our Forest School! 🌳🔥🪵🐾

✨ The best bit? ✨
The session can be tailored around a theme of your choice — whether that’s woodland survival 🌲, nature detectives 🐞, den building 🛖, minibeasts 🕷️, seasonal adventures 🍁 or something completely different!

All you have to do is get them to us! 🚍🌿

(Session to be held at Boots & Brambles Forest School site in Tollerton. Date to be confirmed with the winning school.)

🌳 HOW TO ENTER 🌳
1️⃣ Follow our page
2️⃣ Like this post ❤️
3️⃣ Tag the school AND class you’d like to enter in the comments 👇
4️⃣ Every tag is a separate entry! 🎉 So tag and share away!

Why not tag another teacher, school or class who would LOVE a day of Forest School fun? 👀🌿
📅 Entries close: Tuesday 8th September 2026 6pm
🏆 Winner revealed: Friday 11th September 2026

Good luck, everyone! 🍀🌳 We can’t wait to welcome one lucky class to Boots & Brambles Forest School for an unforgettable half day of outdoor adventure! 💚🥾🌿

This giveaway is not endorsed, sponsored, administered by, or associated with Facebook or Instagram.

08/09/2026

🌟 LAST DAY TO ENTER! 🌟

🌿🎉 SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY! 🎉🌿 ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄

After a fantastic summer break filled with family sessions, holiday clubs, woodland adventures and plenty of outdoor fun, we’re getting ready to welcome the new school year… and we want to celebrate! 🍂📚🍎

Here at Boots & Brambles Forest School we’re incredibly privileged to work with a wonderful range of schools across Nottinghamshire — and we’d LOVE to extend that a little further! 💚

🌳 We are running a SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY ... ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄
That’s right… a whole half day of outdoor learning, exploring, playing and adventure at our Forest School! 🌳🔥🪵🐾

✨ The best bit? ✨
The session can be tailored around a theme of your choice — whether that’s woodland survival 🌲, nature detectives 🐞, den building 🛖, minibeasts 🕷️, seasonal adventures 🍁 or something completely different!

All you have to do is get them to us! 🚍🌿

(Session to be held at Boots & Brambles Forest School site in Tollerton. Date to be confirmed with the winning school.)

🌳 HOW TO ENTER 🌳
1️⃣ Follow our page
2️⃣ Like this post ❤️
3️⃣ Tag the school AND class you’d like to enter in the comments 👇
4️⃣ Every tag is a separate entry! 🎉 So tag and share away!

Why not tag another teacher, school or class who would LOVE a day of Forest School fun? 👀🌿
📅 Entries close: Tuesday 8th September 2026 6pm
🏆 Winner revealed: Friday 11th September 2026

Good luck, everyone! 🍀🌳 We can’t wait to welcome one lucky class to Boots & Brambles Forest School for an unforgettable half day of outdoor adventure! 💚🥾🌿

This giveaway is not endorsed, sponsored, administered by, or associated with Facebook or Instagram.

06/09/2026

🌟 LAST FEW DAYS TO ENTER! 🌟
🌳 Win a FREE FOREST SCHOOL SESSION! 🌳

🍄 Entries can be made by PARENTS/CARERS/ SCHOOL STAFF! 🍄

🪵 TAG & SHARE to anyone who may be interested! 🪵

🌿🎉 SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY! 🎉🌿 ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄

After a fantastic summer break filled with family sessions, holiday clubs, woodland adventures and plenty of outdoor fun, we’re getting ready to welcome the new school year… and we want to celebrate! 🍂📚🍎

Here at Boots & Brambles Forest School we’re incredibly privileged to work with a wonderful range of schools across Nottinghamshire — and we’d LOVE to extend that a little further! 💚

🌳 We are running a SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY ... ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄
That’s right… a whole half day of outdoor learning, exploring, playing and adventure at our Forest School! 🌳🔥🪵🐾

✨ The best bit? ✨
The session can be tailored around a theme of your choice — whether that’s woodland survival 🌲, nature detectives 🐞, den building 🛖, minibeasts 🕷️, seasonal adventures 🍁 or something completely different!

All you have to do is get them to us! 🚍🌿

(Session to be held at Boots & Brambles Forest School site in Tollerton. Date to be confirmed with the winning school.)

🌳 HOW TO ENTER 🌳
1️⃣ Follow our page
2️⃣ Like this post ❤️
3️⃣ Tag the school AND class you’d like to enter in the comments 👇
4️⃣ Every tag is a separate entry! 🎉 So tag and share away!

Why not tag another teacher, school or class who would LOVE a day of Forest School fun? 👀🌿
📅 Entries close: Tuesday 8th September 2026 6pm
🏆 Winner revealed: Friday 11th September 2026

Good luck, everyone! 🍀🌳 We can’t wait to welcome one lucky class to Boots & Brambles Forest School for an unforgettable half day of outdoor adventure! 💚🥾🌿

This giveaway is not endorsed, sponsored, administered by, or associated with Facebook or Instagram.

03/09/2026

🤣 Big kids are flipping good fun too. 😂

Can we stop wishing our children would stay little forever?

At this time of year, Instagram is full of:
“I wish I could freeze time.”
“I wish they’d stay this little forever.”
“Enjoy them while they’re young.”
“You only get 18 summers.”
I know what people mean. I really do.

But as a parent whose daughter never got the chance to grow up, I find these posts incredibly hard. ❤️

Because watching your children grow is a privilege not everyone gets.

Because when did we decide that early childhood is the best bit of parenting?”

Yes, I loved the tiny years. The cuddles, the funny voices, the little hands. 👶

But I also LOVE watching them become young people. 👩

Their opinions. Their humour. Their independence. Discovering who they are.
And this summer we've done things we couldn't have done as easily when they were little — from hiking and paddleboarding to learning blackjack!

Big kids are flipping good fun too. 😂
There's something wonderful about reaching the stage where you can just hang out. Have adventures. Talk. Laugh. Get to know the person they're becoming.
Of course I'll feel nostalgic for the little versions.

But I don't want to freeze time,
I want more time. ⏳️
More birthdays. More summers. More adventures. More versions of them.

❤️ So perhaps instead of “enjoy them while they're young,” we should simply say:
Enjoy them.
Enjoy every version.
Because growing up isn't something to mourn.
It's the privilege of getting to see who they become. ❤️

02/09/2026

“You only have 18 summers with your children”
Nope.
I’m calling time on this one. 😂
I know it’s supposed to be inspiring.
But honestly, I find it quite depressing.

Because suddenly every summer becomes a countdown.
18.
17.
16.
15…

QUICK! BOOK SOMETHING!
CREATE A MEMORY!
MAKE IT MAGICAL!
DON’T WASTE A SUMMER!
😱

And before you know it, you're trying to turn every Tuesday into a Pinterest-worthy childhood experience.

Can we just take a breath?
Because what happens at 18?
Do we all pack away the camping equipment?
Cancel the holidays?
Stop having adventures?
Hand our children a birthday card that says:
“Thanks for the memories. That's your lot. Good luck!” 😂
Of course not.

At 44, we still go on holiday with our own parents.
And I know plenty of families who happily holiday together when their children are in their late teens and twenties and beyond!

Because 18 isn't an expiry date on family time let's stop counting the summers and just flipping enjoy them!!

01/09/2026

🌿🎉 SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY! 🎉🌿 ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄

After a fantastic summer break filled with family sessions, holiday clubs, woodland adventures and plenty of outdoor fun, we’re getting ready to welcome the new school year… and we want to celebrate! 🍂📚🍎

Here at Boots & Brambles Forest School we’re incredibly privileged to work with a wonderful range of schools across Nottinghamshire — and we’d LOVE to extend that a little further! 💚

🌳 We are running a SEPTEMBER GIVEAWAY ... ONE LUCKY CLASS WILL WIN A HALF-DAY FOREST SCHOOL SESSION — COMPLETELY FREE! 🍄
That’s right… a whole half day of outdoor learning, exploring, playing and adventure at our Forest School! 🌳🔥🪵🐾

✨ The best bit? ✨
The session can be tailored around a theme of your choice — whether that’s woodland survival 🌲, nature detectives 🐞, den building 🛖, minibeasts 🕷️, seasonal adventures 🍁 or something completely different!

All you have to do is get them to us! 🚍🌿

(Session to be held at Boots & Brambles Forest School site in Tollerton. Date to be confirmed with the winning school.)

🌳 HOW TO ENTER 🌳
1️⃣ Follow our page
2️⃣ Like this post ❤️
3️⃣ Tag the school AND class you’d like to enter in the comments 👇
4️⃣ Every tag is a separate entry! 🎉 So tag and share away!

Why not tag another teacher, school or class who would LOVE a day of Forest School fun? 👀🌿
📅 Entries close: Tuesday 8th September 2026 6pm
🏆 Winner revealed: Friday 11th September 2026

Good luck, everyone! 🍀🌳 We can’t wait to welcome one lucky class to Boots & Brambles Forest School for an unforgettable half day of outdoor adventure! 💚🥾🌿

This giveaway is not endorsed, sponsored, administered by, or associated with Facebook or Instagram.

31/08/2026

🌞 HOLD UP… WHO DECIDED SUMMER IS OVER?! 😂

I keep seeing everyone talking about the end of summer already… 👀🍂

Well, just for the record, I’m following the astronomical calendar around here. 😌✨
Which means summer doesn’t officially end until 23rd September, when the Autumn Equinox arrives. 🌍☀️🍁

So while everyone else is getting their pumpkins, cosy jumpers and “hello autumn” posts ready… 🎃🧣🍂

I’ll be over here like:
“SUMMER IS STILL IN SESSION, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.” 😎🌞🍹
There’s still time for BBQs, sunny days, ice creams and summer fun. 😂

So I’m officially refusing to say goodbye to summer just yet. 🙅‍♀️☀️

Team 23rd September — who’s with me? 👇😂🌞