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Cowdray are delighted to be involved in Easebourne Primary School’s Community Week giving school children the opportunity to learn about the environment, forestry, woods as well as other aspects of estate life.

With the sun shining, over 270 pupils visited various departments throughout last week engaging with the heads of department who gave them an insight into life on a busy country estate.

Organised by Nick McDonald, the estate’s land and environment manager, the week was filled with diverse activities with the children being picked up in a tractor and trailer one morning before being taken to learn more about the woods from the forestry team, followed by a talk with the Cowdray deer manager Jason Griffin.

“Community week is such a great opportunity to work with Easebourne Primary School and a chance to be able to bring the children to the estate,” said Nick.

Easebourne Primary School pupils trying on beekeeper suits during Community Week

“We do this every year and are very pleased to forge close links with the school and to continue to support them in every way we can. The pupils were fully engaged, asked lots of questions and were really interested in all the different things happening at Cowdray.”

During the week the children learnt about tree identification, the River Rother and other environmental themes. Nick spoke to the pupils about honeybees, showed them an empty beehive as well as honeycomb and the children were able to dress up in bee suits.

They were also shown crops and machinery at Home Farm, carried out some planting with the parks and garden team, visited the golf course where they had a lesson, were given a tour of the estate in a tractor as well as built bird boxes to take home with the works department.

The previous Friday, June 9, was the annual Work Party Day where several departments from across the estate volunteered their time to help improve and enhance the grounds of Easebourne Primary School.

Children boarding the tractor and trailer to be given a tour of the estate

Volunteers from the forestry and works department as well as from the parks and gardens team repaired fences, cleared out scrubland and replaced the sleeper wall around the amphitheatre, with Cowdray supplying the wood for the work.

Nick said: “It’s always an enjoyable day for the whole team to get together to help the local school. We hope that Cowdray’s work will make the school grounds more enjoyable for the children to play in particularly over the forthcoming summer months.”

Easebourne Primary School pupils enjoy Community Week on the Cowdray Estate