Green Aspirations is a woodlands social enterprise whose mission is to inspire outdoor learning. They’re driven by a desire to see everyone re-connect with nature, not only to benefit the environment, but to improve health and wellbeing too. They’re a small, dynamic team, big on fun, and are this month’s Local Heroes.

Bug hunting in the woods with Lorna

Just a 28-minute drive from Stirling city centre will take you to Balfron Station – at the edge of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park – and the woodland home of Green Aspirations. There, alongside volunteers, you will likely be welcomed by Louise, an award-winning community consultant and founding director of Green Aspirations; Paul, her partner and woodworker extraordinaire; or Lorna, bug expert and mastermind of the Green Aspirations holiday club, Wee Skelfs. Together, they deliver workshops, parties and volunteering projects that teach skills as varied as woodland management, whittling, axecraft, bushcraft, and green woodworking. All profits are ploughed back into sustaining the enterprise and widening its reach.

Green Aspirations is for everyone – from companies who commission team-building days and offer corporate volunteering, to kids having den-building birthday parties, to tourists who want to reconnect with nature. ‘Our holiday clubs give children a chance to get outdoors and learn more about their environment in a fun, hands-on way they might not otherwise be allowed to do. Then there are our family bushcraft days, which teach firelighting, bow and arrow-making, den building, campfire cooking and lots more, and encourage people to really think about nature for the first time. We can create days round a theme of their choice, from hunter-gathering, to bridge-building and more. But we’re not extreme – you won’t find us eating bugs or creating survival challenges – we share insights in a soft way for people who’re new to nature or who want to engage more with it at their own pace.’

So what keeps such a busy team motivated when money isn’t a factor? Louise answers without hesitation: ‘It’s being involved with nature – there’s a mindfulness about it. It’s good for the soul – and there’s scientific evidence to prove that being closer to nature is good for everyone. Also, it’s great seeing people change. One family come to us for a family bushcraft day, and the mum in particular was marked by it – gaining enough confidence to take her family hillwalking, make campfires and use her new skills.’

Between running their workshops, education projects, holiday clubs and kids’ birthday parties, the team are pretty busy, but that hasn’t stopped them taking on a challenging project of their own. Over the past year, they’ve built their own greenwood shelter from scratch, to provide cover when the weather isn’t great. ‘Previously we used tarps hung between trees but on wet days things could get muddy and we might be forced to cancel activities,’ Louise explains. ‘But we’re proud to be finishing off our new shelter which we’ve built entirely by hand, without electricity, and using only wind-felled trees found on site.’ Not only is their new greenwood shelter a handsome asset, it’s something of an emblem for what Green Aspirations are all about – working with nature, not against it, to improve your environment and have a whole heap of fun at the same time.

The Green Aspirations Team have worked hard to build their own greenwood shelter this year

• For more information on Green Aspirations, see their website: http://www.greenaspirationsscotland.co.uk/
• And follow them on Facebook for up to date news and events: https://www.facebook.com/greenaspirationsscotland/
• Follow them on Twitter: @AspirationGreen
• Photo Credits: Photos by Green Aspirations and lucidityimages.com
• Greenwood shelter photo by Gillian Orr