Community Links
Children and Coy Pond
The work on the maintenance and improvement of the Coy Pond gardens, undertaken by the Friends of Coy Pond, is for everyone. But it is important to us that the younger generation should engage with not just our planting, but with the natural world generally. The tranquillity of trees and shrubbery around the pond, wildfowl and fish, and the sequence of flowers in their season are hopefully a backdrop to the child’s developing love of nature.
But we have added more things specifically to attract their interest and stimulate their imagination. The original Bug Hotel (depicting Ladybird with hatbox, Black-beetle with suitcase) was a big attraction, shown by the muddy path beaten to it. The council then kindly gravelled this path. Subsequently, following this success we made three further Bug Hotels installed on the rockery. Each different: a Swiss chalet; three beach huts; and finally a thatched country pub. Done to amuse the children of course: insects indifferent to the shape of their refuge. But, it helped them understand their underlying function to give winter shelter for insects, and from that the children can begin to realise the importance of insects to humanity, particularly as pollinators.
Our early gardening efforts, starting in 2017, created The Stumpery near the western entrance to the pond. We used the stumps removed from the rockery, as it was cleared of its shrouding shrubs and trees. Then ferns were planted amongst the stumps, a reflection of a Victorian fashion. A permanent information board was commissioned, which was worded simply, so that it could be easily ready by a child, or the concept explained in simple words to a younger child.
‘Named’ gardens around the pond bear a cartoon as well as the title of the garden. Children can enjoy them at face value, though a grown up might need to explain the meaning or cultural significance of the caption (e.g., a title of a stepped garden, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is also the name of an old Led Zeppelin number). Another encouragement to children’s literacy (‘Dorset Hidden Books’) is the subject of a separate ‘Community’ item.
Children’s enthusiasm for going ‘off the beaten track’ is catered for by around 80 feet of informal path looping round to re-join the main path, so that they can safely ‘lose’, and then rejoin accompanying adults. The venue for them there is ‘Bug City’ bogus skyscrapers of wood, perched atop a rotting tree stump, almost certainly the refuge for insect life. Elsewhere, a painted crocodile basks in a concrete creek in the Tropical garden, and an upright shard of wood by the Stumpery is (possibly?) a Dragon’s tooth.
More direct involvement with children took place in November 2024. A number of children visited from Longspee, a local secondary school. They had come to help with the planting of new trees in the Bourne Valley part of Coy Pond gardens. They were supervised and instructed by John Hallett, Friend and volunteer who is also a professional gardener. He commented on their keenness, undoubtedly a reflection of his own enthusiasm.
At the same time, we were also in negotiation with Bishop Aldhelm’s primary school to suggest some form of contact. This came good the following May when around a dozen children with two teachers were given a conducted tour of the pond and rockery. So they now know what a ‘Coy’ pond is for, and what a Stumpery is. They were so taken with the idea of a Stumpery that the volunteer responsible subsequently gave them a starter kit of sawn-off pollarded hazel stumps, and a few potted up harts tongue ferns. So now the school has their very own Stumpery.
A second visit took place in October. This time it was for the children to have ‘hands on’ experience of a gardening process. So, we provided a large collection of daffodil bulbs for them to plant in the Spring Garden. Under the shade of mature birch with shallow roots, so the volunteer dug over some areas first to make planting easier. A brief introduction to bulb planting, then all eleven children set to with a will and a trowel, as each had brought their own. They enthusiastically filled the useable space in the Spring garden. With time still available and one more bag of daffodils, they moved on to squeeze some bulbs between plants in the mixed border at the start of the eastern path. We have promised them a return in the spring, when they can see the fruits (or rather, the flowers) of their labours.
Dorset Hidden Books
Jo, one of our gardeners, is doing a wonderful job helping children to develop an interest in books. She is part of a group called “Dorset Hidden Books”, the idea being to hide books for children to find. They read the book, hide it again, or if they wish to keep it, they hide another.
"Hi, my name is Emma. I’ve been a teacher for over 20 years and I’m also a mum of two. I am passionate about the importance of early reading and I think the idea of finding books and sharing them is such a fun one.
There are some basic rules:
1. Books need to be age appropriate for 0-12 year olds. Older children can join in but I’ve set that age range to avoid teen and older fiction that might have inappropriate content.
2. Books need to be put in a zip-lock or similar clear bag and left somewhere that they’ll be found. Please reuse bags. Don’t leave anything else with the book.
3. Books don’t need be new. Just in good condition.
4. Please include a note along the lines of
“Congratulations you’ve found a book that’s part of the ‘Dorset Hidden Books’ adventure. Please read, keep as long as you like and re-hide or hide books of your own that you’d like to share. Please join the ‘Dorset Hidden Books’ Facebook group and share your finding photo!”
Don’t leave any personal details on your note - first names are fine if you wish to include them.
5. Please share pics of your book hides and finds and share this group with friends. We want hundreds of little book hunters!"