Events and Activities

Volunteer Session

For this day we’ll be opening up some of the woodland down in Watercress Fields to improve sightlines and clear a little of the undergrowth that is taking over.

If you would like to attend you should wear long trousers and long sleeves. Gloves are provided but you may prefer to bring your own. You should also bring a drink as well as lunch if you are staying the whole day.

9.30am to 3pm

Meet at the volunteer compound.

Activity level: moderate to heavy.

Volunteer Session

For this session we will create wildlife scrapes in several locations in the park. Scrapes are shallow ponds, less than 1m in depth, that hold rain or flood water for periods during the year. These pools support a variety of species, including insects (such as dragonflies, hoverflies and water beetles), amphibians (frogs, toads and newts), birds and mammals.

We’ll dig out shallow depressions with gentle sloping sides (crucial for providing a range of marginal conditions as the water rises and falls). The excavated soil will then be used to build mounds nearby as additional habitat for creatures such as butterflies and lizards, who can bask on their sunny sides, or nesting solitary bees.

If you would like to attend you should wear long trousers and long sleeves. Gloves are provided but you may prefer to bring your own. You should also bring a drink as well as lunch if you are staying the whole day.

9.30am to 3pm

Meet at the volunteer compound.

Activity level: moderate to heavy.

Free Event

Beat the winter blues and come A-Wassailing in Victoria Park on Saturday 24 January from 1.30pm to 6pm. 

There’ll be fun for all the family with a range of festivities including:

· Lit procession and Wassail ceremony lead by our Master of Ceremonies, Richard Wheeler

· Live music from Ashford Folk, Bob Kenward and Nick Lawrence

· Performances from East Kent Morris dancers and Canterbury Hoodeners 

· Children’s drumming workshop

· Locally made crafts for sale from Made in Ashford

· Flora the Giant (weather permitting)

· Crafts and wooden games

· BBQ and cider

A Wassail is a traditional English event and particularly special within Kent due to its fruit growing history. At Wassail, people thank the orchard trees and welcome good spirits in, to ensure a bountiful harvest from their fruiting trees in the next season. They also scare away the bad spirits by making lots of noise! 

The event is free, with a BBQ and refreshments available to purchase from Harper’s Café and Turners Cider. 

Parking at the car park and surrounding roads will be very limited so please take public transport or walk if you can (there are good bus and cycle routes with cycle racks located in the park). There is a nearby car park on Victoria Road, which is just a five-minute stroll away but this is not free so visitors will need to pay.

Wrap up warm and wear sensible shoes and if you’d like to join in with the yowl then please bring something like a pot and a wooden spoon to bang!