Autumn Woods public event

AUTUMN WOODS 

trees are palaces too! 

a day of tree ideas, planning adventures, creating stories, making and mess and laughter
Date: Saturday 4th October 
Venue: Serpentine Gardens, Burlington Rd, Buxton SK17 9AL 
Parking: Burlington Road or Pavilion Gardens 
What3words: lurching.instant.scrambles   
Times: 10.30 - 3.30 
This event is free: no booking or tickets needed
Materials are provided
You just bring the smiles, ideas and a helpful grown-up

change of venue notice

 

given the fearsome weather that is being predicted for this weekend, we're moving the Autumn Woods....but only about 100 metres or so!

 

We will be in action in the grounds of the Serpentine Community Garden with strong polytunnels for shelter from the stormcats and rainwolves!

 

Address: Serpentine Community Garden, Burlington Rd, Buxton, SK17 9AR

What3words: roofs.frog.nudge

 

Times 10:30 - 3:00

 

 Join us in the woods of the Serpentine Gardens, Buxton,  to enjoy the trees by the river. Find your own answers to the questions: 

who sits in a tree's throne room?

who guards a trees' treasures? 

who waits in the root-dungeons? 

who waves flags from the twig battlements? 

who dances in a branch's ballroom? 

Make your own Tree Palace Pop-up. 

Take home your own Bee and Bug Palace for your garden 

This is the third of four events Creeping Toad partners Stone and Water are doing as a series Celebrating Woodland with the aim of getting people recognising the richness and importance of the woodlands around us. Funded by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Community Grant Fund

mousehole: hidden in the Palace depths

Book Week workshops

Friends in Nature

celebrating Book Week Scotland

from beetles and bumblebees to birds, bats and bears, exploring friendship with the world around us!

Toad availability for these workshops: 19 - 26th November 2025

DATES STILL AVAILABLE: 19, 21, 25 November

(Book Week: 17 - 23rd November 2025)

 

Making friends,

Becoming friends,

How do we nurture a friendship?

What do friendships give us?

 

Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of books and reading. This year's Book Week theme is “Friends”,and while this post is about Creeping Toad Book Week plans, these same ideas and activities could be brought to other places! So if you are in darkest Derbyshire, hair-raising Herts, spontaneous Sussex or some such place, get in touch and we’ll see what we can do!

Creeping Toad has done Book Week related activities for the last couple of years and since Toad activity usually revolves around the environment, we’ve been thinking about workshops exploring friendships with the world around us and how those ideas, principles or the friendships themselves might inspire some writing and book-building! In planning for this year’s adventures, we’ve been working with our friends at N4H: 

Nature 4 Health aims to help people connect with nature, each other and themselves. Experience the mindful benefits of green and blue space and the fascinating species we share the planet with. (N4H website)

favourite animals, 

helpful beasts, 

being pals with unlikely creatures, 

long, slow friendships with trees, 

how to make friends with a river…

befriend a toadstool?

Toad sessions could include 

• storytelling
• storymaking
• turning stories into our own little Books so we build books in Book Week
• making puppets to dramatise our stories
• shadow puppets might make for even more striking storytelling
• pop-up landscapes could build stories into forms that encourage words without worrying about writing!

To book, to find out more or to pitch in with your own suggestions contact Gordon:

Mobile: 07791096857

Email: creepingtoad@btinternet.com