Nature, Health and Wellbeing book
If you didn’t get your free copy of this beautiful book during the Garden Festival weekend, you can pick one up now at the following places. You’ll also find some free packets of foxglove seeds, kindly donated by Carrie Darby from the Heathfield Allotment Trust:
• Susannah’s Tearoom
• The Swan Inn
• Redwing Bar and Dining
• Lympstone Parish Church
The idea for this book came from Wild About Lympstone’s Wildlife Festival in June 2023. As part of this, I shared a little of the fascinating research I’d been involved with at the University of Exeter around the health benefits of connecting with nature. I also began talking to local people about their own experiences of how connecting with nature had enriched their lives. The stories that emerged were beautiful and moving, illustrating the power nature has to inspire and heal us all. My aim in writing this book was to share these wonderful stories and poems with you, together with a little of the fascinating science that is beginning to tell us why and how our connection with nature makes us feel better. Complete with stunning artwork from Sammie Frances the book reflects the joy of nature and is a beautiful keepsake. You can find Sammie’s work in Lympstone’s Seaglass Gallery.
Lympstone Wildlife Map art work
Louise Banks created a magnificent wildlife map of Lympstone on behalf of WAL. Following the sell-out of her initial print run, additional copies are now available in the Seaglass Gallery at £35 each, with profits going towards further local wildlife action. Louise told us how creating the map had transformed her experience of walking around the village: ‘working on the map has opened my eyes to the enormous variety of species we live alongside and how they all interconnect. I hope this map, teeming with some of the wildlife inhabitants that we share this village with, helps us to put a different perspective on our home and to see that it is their Lympstone as much as ours’.
Thank you!
Enjoy the summer wildlife season!
Rebecca Abrahams,
On behalf of the WAL Team
