Nature is good for our health

The Biosphere is a partner in the Awyr Iach project, which runs therapeutic activities in woodlands and elsewhere. Here we take a closer look at how nature connection is good for people. Darllen yn Gymraeg.

It’s a showery Friday morning in autumn, and a group is gathering in the woods. Some sit on the benches around a fire that is slowly heating a kettle, some are already getting tools out of the shed, and a few newcomers are being introduced under a large and beautiful wooden roundhouse structure. They include a home-schooled child with his father, a mother whose children are in school, pensioners, and all ages in between. It’s a Woodland Friday at Dafydd’s Wood at Taliesin.

There is something about being amongst trees that is instantly calming, and the winding path through the site brings new impressions at every step: a drift of autumn leaves, a mud kitchen for children, a pizza oven under construction, a compost toilet, a glimpse across Borth Bog to the sea.

As the morning wears on, people move in twos and threes from one job to the next. Some work on the path, sawing lengths of hazel to lay as steps, and sharpening pegs with an axe to keep them in place. Others are coppicing hazel stools, building a pizza oven, putting up signs made in an earlier art session, and heating up soup. The trees hold the worst of the rain off and a roundhouse keeps everyone dry at lunchtime.

The woodland is owned and managed by Dafydd Hughes of Talybont, in partnership with Coed Lleol / Small Woods, a charity that works to improve the health and wellbeing of people across Wales through woodland and nature based activities. It is a popular venue for social activities such as a school holidays Forest School, as well as organised events, such as a recent crafts day for NHS staff.

Coed Lleol / Small Woods is the lead partner in Awyr Iach, the outdoor health service for the people of the Dyfi Valley, of which the Biosphere is a partner, and they also uses the site for professionally led therapeutic activities. These can be prescribed by local GP surgeries and other healthcare providers, but people can also refer themselves. Activities include woodland skills, cooking, foraging, mindfulness and crafts. 

“Since the service started we have already started seeing significant benefits to those involved, from 95 year old local residents moving more on the Gentle Paths programme at the Bro Ddyfi Community Hospital, to families coming along to the monthly Celtic Rainforest Saturdays to be outdoors and learn how to take care of the Valley’s unique Celtic Rainforests” says Rosie Strang from Coel Lleol / Small Woods, who worked on previous Biosphere outdoor health projects. 

The videos on our outdoor health page tell moving stories of people who have found comfort and support through joining in outdoor activities, and developed the confidence to move on with their lives.

There are many other ways to connect with nature in the Biosphere. Gardening is one, and besides Awyr Iach’s own project at Bro Ddyfi Community Hospital in Machynlleth, which is developing outdoor spaces for the well-being of patients and staff, there are many community gardens and orchards, some of which received support from the Biosphere’s Tyfu Dyfi project (see this map). For more, see the Social Farms and Gardens network. 

Citizen science, for example the recent Screams and Streams project where volunteers tested river water quality and monitored swift populations, is another good example of nature connection.

Another project that offers opportunities for nature connection is Coetir Anian, which restores habitats and species and connects people with wildlife and wild places. Custodians of a150 hectare site called Bwlch Corog, set in the uplands of Mid Wales near the River Dyfi and the sea, they run regular school, volunteering and wellbeing programmes.

Then of course there are sites open to the public, such as the Dyfi Ospreys, RSPB Ynys-hir and Ynyslas Nature Hub, and private ventures like Emergence who run retreats and creative events from their home in the Dyfi Valley.

Or you could download a map and go for a walk to Discover the Dyfi.

Find out more - 

Refer yourself to Awyr Iach’s free outdoor health programmes for your health and wellbeing - Contact Elin Crowley, Engagement Officer, Awyr Iach on elincrowley@smallwoods.org.uk or 07481 080571.

Join the Outdoor Health Thematic Group to see how we can develop this area further. Contact Jane Powell, Joint Dyfi Biosphere Coordinator via the contact form.

Images from Dafydd's Wood Facebook page, with permission.