Wellbeing Activities This Spring
The 13 to 19 May is Mental Health Awareness Week. We want to put a spotlight on the mental health and physical benefits of exploring the beautiful green spaces at the Museum.
Here are our top things to soothe your soul while you visit, along with the wellbeing activities you could be taking part in this spring.
Take Part in National Walking Month
This May, Living Streets are encouraging people to fit in 20 minutes of walking per day. With 45 acres to venture around, the Museum is a perfect place to take a gentle stroll around our gardens, explore our hidden meadow and woodlands, or for a longer walk follow our orienteering course.
Accompanied Walks
Our programme of Accompanied Walks supports adults experiencing social isolation or bereavement, those with additional support needs and unpaid carers to get a dose of “vitamin green” with our friendly volunteers free of charge.
Enjoy Our Contemplation Benches
Take time for mindfulness and awareness of your surroundings on our contemplation benches. Positioned around the Museum site, enjoy the views and take in the sounds of nature.
Try Qigong at Our Taster Sessions
Qigong optimises energy in body, mind, and spirit for overall health. Breathing is vital in Qigong, addressing the common loss of effective breathing due to busy lifestyles. During May and June Qigong practitioner, Ruth Stephenson will be running two taster sessions where you can sample the controlled breathing and gentle movements of this form of ancient Chinese medicine.
Stop and Smell the Roses
According to a study by The Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2022 “Smells play an important role in delivering wellbeing benefits from interacting with nature, and they are unique amongst the senses in how they are interpreted by the human brain.” Our gardens and woodlands are thriving during the spring, so it’s the perfect time to use your sense of smell as you explore the Museum site.
Take Part in Our Green Festival
Join us for a day filled with sustainable fun, as we come together to support the environment and make a positive impact. With live music, award-winning family theatre, gardening advice, kids activities, wellness sessions and a sustainable market, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Discover Our Hidden Meadow
Take a trip down to the far end of the Museum and through the woods behind our High Wycombe Furniture Factory you’ll find our hidden meadow. This area of Chilterns’ chalk grassland – a habitat type known as lowland calcareous grassland – is an internationally rare, fragile and wildlife-rich habitat. It was developed over centuries of grazing to maintain a short turf (or ‘sward’) that is rich in herbs, flowers and grasses.
Feel the Natural Textures of Our Woodland
During a recent guided walk through our woods, bushcraft expert, David Willis encouraged participants to feel the textures of the forest - from the rough mosaic of the oak to damp moss growing on fallen branches. Try to avoid the stinging nettles though!
Visit our woodlands by taking the trail from either the path between Skippings Barn & Thame Vicarage Room or from our Iron Age Roundhouse.
Exercise Your Mind
Working on a puzzle reinforces connections between brain cells, improves mental speed and is an effective way to improve short-term memory. Puzzles also increase the production of dopamine, a chemical that regulates mood, memory, and concentration. Dopamine is released with every success as we solve the puzzle.
At the Museum we have a collection of wooden construction puzzles in Northolt Barn for you to create some of our buildings in miniature.
Come to a Mindfulness Workshop
This June Anna Schofield, a highly experienced educator, artist and mindfulness teacher will be running an introduction to mindfulness at the Museum.
Watch the Wildlife Living by Our Pond
The two ponds in front of Northolt Barn are a haven for wildlife and a great place to stop and watch the insects and amphibians that call it home. If you look carefully you might be able to spot a Pond Skater, Common Mayfly, Greater Water Boatman, Great Diving Beetle, Dragonflies, Common Blue Damselflies, Red Damselflies and Smooth Newts.
Listen to the Birds
The UK woodland bird index records the populations of 37 bird species in UK woodlands. 25 of them are woodland specialists and many of these can be found in the woods surrounding the Museum. Take a walk from outside Skippings Barn, past our fields and down into the woodland and you’ll soon be surrounded by the sound of wild birds.