Mark and Isabel Fisher have written to us with news of an innovative use of their woodland in East Sussex

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Hi we are Mark and Isabel Fisher and 3 years ago, nearly 4, we bought a small parcel of woodland, just 4 acres on the edge of a much larger plot – Wellhead Woods near Cripps Corner in East Sussex.  We bought the woods because there was a woodland shaped hole in our lives and planned to use it as our source of fire wood and somewhere for us to play and camp with our family and friends.
South Elephant Wood is a long narrow strip of woodland with ride along one of its long side with forest beyond and on the other side, a bridleway, open to farmland.  There is still a lot of fallen wood from years of neglect but it is rather like a model woodland strip with areas of birch, cherry, sycamore, sitka, and hornbeam along with two clearings and the odd oak and holly.  We have beaten a path through the middle and as you wander along, each area reveals a different environment and atmosphere.
Mark is an artist and also teaches art to small groups of adults from his studio at home.  Throughout the spring and summer breaks he runs one-day art workshops at different locations including the woods. During this last winter we decided that it is such a great venue that we wanted to try out something different in the coming year and to expand how we use our woods as a venue.
In January and February we started to put our plan in to action.  We cleared a bigger area at the entry into the woods so that several cars could be parked there, out of the way.  We have good access to the road but the trackway needed improving, this we did with the help of friends and the advantage of months of dry weather. Who needs a gym membership?
With our advertising and promotion plan creaking into gear (something we can definitely improve next year) we held our first Woodland Art Day in June and are running others on the 25th August, 7th and 17th of September.
So what is a Woodland Art Day? In one sentence it is:
A tutored art project day suitable for all abilities, materials provided and a delicious alfresco lunch.
Inspiration is taken from the setting and nature. Projects are painting based and most are done on box canvas with acrylic; but there is the option of exploring mixed media.

Lunch is set so that we can all sit together at one table and in contrast to the setting it is served on china plates with proper cutlery, glasses, napkins etc. A typical menu would be, homemade vegetable stew served with home baked bread and soda loaf, strawberries and cream followed by a selection of cheeses.

We have rigged up a canopy and so far the weather has been very kind to us.  Our woodland earth toilet has scored 10/10 with all who use it and the horseshoe trivet we cook on was made by Mark and has been much admired.

The day costs £45 and lots more information can be found at Mark’s website www.markfisherart.co.uk along with more about Mark and his work.