In 2000 the London Wetland Centre was opened and became a wildlife oasis in the middle of London’s suburbia. Wetlands…
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wildlife detectives
Rock Pooling Adventure
Finally my children went on a rock pooling adventure. It was one of those beach activities they had never done so I…
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Follow a badger path
We’d heard there was a badger sett somewhere in the woods near us but we weren’t sure where it was…
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Is it bad for kids to paint nest boxes?
As readers know I’m very keen on children noticing and appreciating nature. As we have so many wild birds where…
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Learning how to cast animal tracks
On nature walks we constantly spot animal footprints and can see where they roam when we’re not about. Finally we…
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![A secret of my garden is that here and there it is filled with fruits, flowers and herbs that have medicinal and culinary benefits. I know I’m rather fond of flowers’ common names, but also getting clues from their Latin names. Borage, Sage, Pot Marigold (Borago officinalis, Salvia officinalis, Calendula officinalis)…all have Latin names ending with ‘officinalis’ meaning ”of the apothecary shop.” Early pharmacies or apothecary shops were known as officinas🌿🌱🌺
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We have two lemon trees that provide fruit all year round. 🍋Lemons are ‘Citrus medica’…medica meaning useful as a medicine or curative. I’ve sprinkled rose petals on cakes and in baths. I also have Aloe vera in my succulent garden area in case we need it for sunburns. I have Rose pelargonium shrubs flowering in the garden all grown from little cuttings.
[Gifted Book] And now I also have lots of skin care recipes to try out, many which include ingredients in my garden or kitchen, after being gifted this book by the @herbalacademy … I think the Gardener’s Hand Cream recipe will be a must for me! (see my Story )
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This has also given me a wonderful flashback of when my now teen-wild-twins were toddlers. We lived in London and my favourite retreat with them was driving over and spending a morning wandering around and sitting on one of the lawns at the Chelsea Physics Garden of which I was a member…it was originally founded in 1673 by Apothecaries to grow and study key medicinal plants. There was always a magical and peaceful feeling there – and without fail it had a surprising curative effect on my twins as they always laughed quietly and played beautifully there!](https://wildabouthere.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)