Forres Friends of Woods and Fields

02/06/2026

We are taking part in the Moray Community Garden Festival this weekend 🌿

Come and join us on Sunday 7th June between 10am - 2pm in our community garden in Chapelton Field. This is a great opportunity to meet our volunteers, see what we grow and learn more about the project.

The garden can be accessed by walking up past Sanquhar pond or by parking on Leanchoil Hospital drive way and walking down Chapelton Place, past the old farm house.

A map can also be found on our website or by entering 'Forres Friends of Woods and Fields' into Google Maps.: https://www.forresfriends.com/the-land

We look forward to seeing you there!

Moray CAN

01/06/2026

Thank you to Mark and Lucy for hosting a very insightful biological recording workshop in Chapelton Garden and field on Saturday 🪲🌳

We saw many bees, wildflowers and unusual beetles - including the wasp beetle! It was also interesting to learn how to use apps to ID species and officially record them in national records.

Thanks to those who came along. It was a great morning!

28/05/2026

Reminder - Join us this Saturday with local ecologist Mark Bradfield to learn how to make your wildlife sights count 🦉🦌

This event will combine a wildlife walk with exploring smart phone apps and other sources of ID, to help you take your wildlife watching to the next level.

📅 Saturday 30th May
🕙 10am-12pm
📍 Meet at Chapelton Community Garden
🎟️ Free to attend - Donations Welcome
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A map of the land, including the community garden meeting spot can be found here: https://www.forresfriends.com/the-land

It would be helpful if those with smartphones could download the iRecord App and ObsIdentify App prior to coming along – these are both free apps and really useful.

If driving please park at Leanchoil hospital drive way and walk down.

19/05/2026

Join us next weekend for:

How to Make Your Wildlife Sightings Count! 🦌🦡🦉
Saturday 30th May | 10am-12pm
Meet at: Chapelton Field Community Garden
​
Build up a picture of the wonderful wildlife using Forres Friends of Woods and Fields land and add to the local and national picture of wildlife populations.​

This event will be part wildlife walk, part exploring smart phone apps and other sources of ID, to take your wildlife watching to the next level. ​

A map of the land, including the community garden meeting spot can be found here: https://www.forresfriends.com/the-land

If driving please park at Leanchoil hospital drive way and walk down.
Event is free to attend though donations are welcome.

It would be helpful if those with smartphones could download the iRecord App and ObsIdentify App prior to coming along – these are both free apps and really useful.

16/05/2026

🌿 WE DID IT! 🌿

We are absolutely thrilled to share that we have officially reached our crowdfunding target to purchase a heavy-duty rechargeable mower for our community garden! 💚

THANK YOU to everyone who donated and shared our campaign. Your kindness and generosity have made this possible, and we are so incredibly grateful.

This mower will make such a huge difference to our community garden. It will help us safely and effectively maintain the land, support the wellbeing of our volunteers and improve accessibility for visitors.

It also means we can continue recycling grass clippings back into our composting system, helping us grow beautiful, abundant vegetables for our volunteers and the pantry to support local people in need. 🌱

Your support means the world to us and we cannot wait to put this new mower to work in the garden! 🌿✨

11/05/2026

🌿 FINAL WEEK OF OUR CROWDFUNDER 🌿

We’re now into the final week of our crowdfunding campaign to help us purchase a heavy-duty rechargeable mower for our community garden.

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us so far. We are so incredibly grateful for your kindness and support. 💚

Thanks to you, we’ve reached 54% of our target with just one week left to go. We’re delighted of how far we’ve come together, but we still have quite a way to go to reach our goal.

As many of you know, the land we care for isn’t suitable for an average household mower. The grass areas we maintain are larger, rougher and more demanding, which means we need a reliable heavy-duty rechargeable mower that can safely handle the work required to keep our community garden accessible, welcoming, sustainable and safe for everyone.

Having the right equipment will help us:

🌱 Maintain the garden properly throughout the seasons
🌱 Keep pathways and public areas safe for visitors
🌱 Protect the wellbeing and safety of our volunteers while mowing and maintaining the land
🌱 Recycle all grass clippings back into our composting system, creating nutrient-rich compost that helps us grow beautiful, abundant vegetables
🌱 Support our volunteers, who take home fresh produce, while also enabling us to donate 20% of everything we grow to the pantry to help local people in need
🌱 Use our solar panels to recharge the equipment helping us stay net zero
🌱 Continue creating a thriving green space that benefits the whole community

This mower isn’t just about cutting grass - it’s about supporting the full cycle of sustainability in our garden, helping us care for the land, grow food, reduce waste and give back to our community.

If you’re able to help, no matter how small the donation, we are so very grateful. Every contribution brings us one step closer to securing the equipment we need to continue caring for this special space. If donating isn’t possible right now, simply sharing this post could make all the difference.

Donate here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/rechargable-mower

Thank you for believing in what we do and helping us grow something truly special for our community, now and into the future. 🌿💚

08/05/2026

In April, we were delighted to take part in the The Glasgow School of Art Winter School at their Highlands and Islands Design Campus, welcoming a wonderful group of students from all over the world to our garden. 🌱

Their challenge during the week was to help us imagine and design a new storage solution for our potting shed. We began by sharing an introduction to the land and the work we do, before showing them around the shed and pollytunnel. We then invited them to join in with some hands-on activities in the garden.

Together, we weeded the leek beds, planted wildflowers and spent time connecting through the simple joy of working with the soil. It was such a privilege to hear growing stories from students who had gardening experience in other parts of the world, while also welcoming some students who had never worked on the land (or even had their hands in soil) before. Seeing the excitement and joy that experience brought was incredibly special.

By the end of the week, the students presented a range of thoughtful and innovative ideas for how we might create and grow our shed together as a community. Their ideas explored not only the practicalities of storing tools and supporting a busy community garden, but also how shared building projects can foster connection, creativity and collective care.

A huge thank you to all the students and collage organisers involved. It was a really inspiring week 💚

24/04/2026

Have you ever wondered what Chapelton and Sanquhar look like from above? 🌳

During 2024-25 we developed the vision of a landscape-scale biodiversity partnership in the Mosset catchment, focusing on the Sanquhar/Chapelton area of Forres. The partnership aims to build collaboration between local groups in the area - ourselves at Forres Friends, Forres Community Woodlands Trust, the Sanquhar Dam Restoration Group, and landowners Gordon and Macphail.

We received funding from the Moray CAN with the main output being an overview of the existing wildlife value of the area and the production of a draft biodiversity plan.

As part of that we had five aerial videos filmed of the land by Drone Venture Scotland. Here is one of them showing Chapelton down to Sanquhar pond and back.

20/04/2026

🌱 Help Us Keep Our Community Garden Growing 🌱

We’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a heavy-duty rechargeable mower—and we need your support.

Our community garden in Forres is cared for by a small team of volunteers who work hard to create a space where people can grow food, support local wildlife, and connect with each other. We also donate a portion of what we grow to the local pantry, helping those who need it most.

Right now, our old petrol mower has reached the end of its life. A reliable, sustainable replacement is essential to keep paths clear, manage growing areas, and maintain a safe and welcoming space for everyone. The new electric mower will be powered by our solar panels, helping us reduce emissions while improving how we care for the land.

💚 Every donation—no matter the size—will make a real difference.
🔗 Find out more and donate here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/rechargable-mower

If you’re not able to donate, sharing this post would mean just as much. The more people we reach, the closer we get to making this happen.

Thank you for supporting our garden and our community 🌿

To raise funds to purchase a heavy duty rechargeable mower and battery to maintain and manage our community garden.

08/04/2026

🌿✨ Something exciting is growing in our community garden! ✨🌿

We’re thrilled to share that Kim Emerson has begun creating a medicinal plant garden, with the wonderful help of one of our amazing young volunteers, Maya.

Kim’s vision is to build a shared space where people can learn to recognise medicinal plants and discover their many uses. This is just the beginning of a long-term project that will grow and evolve over the years 🌱

With Maya’s help, the beds have been prepared and the foundations of this special space are starting to take shape. Together, they’re bringing to life a garden that will one day support learning, wellbeing, and a deeper connection with nature.

Looking ahead, Kim hopes to:
🌼 Teach others about medicinal plants
🌿 Create herbal remedies like teas, balms, and herb vinegars
🩹 Focus on simple, natural first aid uses
👩‍🌾 Host small, hands-on workshops for volunteers — including how to make calendula balm!

More than anything, Kim’s dream is to help people build a meaningful relationship with the plants around them.

We can’t wait to see this space flourish and for our volunteers to start learning, creating, and connecting when the first plants are ready later this year 🌸