Let Nature Feed Your Senses
Let Nature Feed Your Senses is a flagship project run by Sensory Trust and LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) as part of Natural England's Access to Nature programme, funded by the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme.
Farms, city farms and nature reserves across England are hosting sensory-rich visits to help make the connection between food, farming and nature. The visits are welcoming people who don't have easy access to farms and countryside - groups from inner city schools, people with learning disabilities and sensory impairments, and older people with dementia.
Through hands-on experience visitors can touch, smell, see, hear and taste food and nature in a safe, accessible environment, guided by farmers and environmentalists who are happy to share their expertise and stories. The aim is to develop rich and long lasting connections with nature and take people beyond just visiting the natural world to becoming emotionally connected and actively involved with it.
Photos (centre and right): Charles Abel, Farmers Club Journal
Activity is based around regional networks established throughout England. Innovative learning materials, complementary information, farm visits and nature walks are being developed, specifically designed to help diverse groups make long lasting connections with the natural world around them.
People with physical, sensory and learning disabilities, and socially excluded groups, often face barriers that leave them feeling remote from the countryside around them. This project is helping to bring people closer to their environment, using food as the medium to build a closer relationship with nature where it touches our everyday lives.
This is a chance for farmers to turn a stereotype on its head and to say 'Get on my land' to people who are currently excluded from the natural world. Farms are a fantastic gateway to the sights, smells and sounds of the countryside and a perfect way of bringing nature into the lives of people who most need it. We are really excited to be working with LEAF on this ground-breaking project and look forward to making the countryside and nature more accessible to many.
The project is funded by Access to Nature, an open grants programme run by Natural England with £25 million funding from Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme.
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