Corporate and Community Events in Nature

Corporate and community events: Making a difference in nature

We’re taking a moment to look back at the variety of community and corporate events that we’ve hosted across our sites in the last month. Three of these recent events were significant and brought together a variety of people to support environmental sustainability, nature connection and climate action.

A CORPORATE VOLUNTEERING day AT Watercress Farm

Last month we hosted a corporate volunteering day for one of our partners, TLT LLP in our rewilding and rewetting project.

The day’s agenda was about kick-starting natural regeneration with strategic transplanting of willow cuttings and alder trees from the most rewilded part of the site to the new wetland river banks. The day started with a nature walk for the whole team before splitting off into activity groups that included butterfly and dragonfly surveying and strategic replanting.

“This volunteering day exceeded my expectations in every way. It was insightful, educational and allowed me to contribute to an important cause.”

During the group activities, our estate team were on hand to educate the volunteers on where and how to replant the cuttings on the wetland pond riverbanks. Replanting the cuttings and trees on the borders will help to mitigate riverbank erosion and improve water quality. Plus, they will reproduce over time helping to kick-start the natural regeneration process.

What does a corporate volunteering day look like with us? Interested in seeing what this looks like, click here to watch a video.

What are the benefits of corporate volunteering?

As part of our corporate partnership package, we provide inspirational and educational opportunities for teams to get out into nature. We understand how important it is for people to spend time away from their desks, reconnecting with colleagues and spending time in nature. Some additional benefits of corporate volunteering include:

• Improving employee retention by increasing an employee’s sense of purpose. Increasing a sense of purpose could make employees four times more engaged with work. Ultimately, making an employee less likely to consider changing jobs.

• Boosting employee happiness and engagement levels with some studies showing 80% of employees felt happier from volunteering activities.

• Increasing customer or client retention through improved corporate social responsibility. Recent data showed that when customers became aware of a firm’s corporate volunteering programme, they associated it with strong CSR which has proven to increase customer loyalty and brand awareness.

• Improving employee’s soft skills, such as time management, teamwork and communication.

Running out of time climate relay

Our second significant event was the Running Out of Time climate relay event. We were proud to be a partner of this year’s event which launched on the 6th June at Ben Nevis and completed on the 4th July in Parliament Square, London.

Running Out of Time is an annual climate relay that raises awareness, inspires action and celebrates great climate campaigns, projects and events across Britain. The 2024 relay started in Scotland before undertaking an extraordinary 2436km journey of 210 stages through 50 cities and towns to finish in London.

With an organisation so closely aligned in values and mission, we were eager to collaborate with Running Out of Time, and our rewilding project became one of the stages on the route. Watercress Farm was the 147th and 148th stage of the UK route. We wanted our stage to be focused on ‘Nature Connection’, giving everyone involved a chance to pause, reflect and reconnect with nature. We invited local children from Flax Bourton School to walk, jog or run around the site before sitting down for a mindfulness session in the fields together.

It was a fantastic moment seeing the students from Clifton College hand over the baton to the younger school children from Flax Bourton and for all of them to reconnect with nature and each other.

Purposefest

PurposeFest was another nature-focused event that we recently hosted in our Walled Garden. An event for purpose-driven communicators, founders, teams, change-makers or anyone who needs to re-charge, re-imagine and re-connect in nature.

It was an afternoon of sunshine, inspiring walks and talks, nature activities and building community connections. Activities included qigong, nature photography, and biodiversity “netwalking” tours where Director of Estates, Gil Martin educated guests about our rewilding practises in the wetland. We ended the day with a delicious BBQ from Square Food Foundation and Better Days Feast and tasty ice cream from Marshfield.

It was amazing to see people reconnecting to nature, food and each other in one space. We believe there is no better way to inspire change than by bringing like-minded people together at engaging and impactful experiences in nature. A huge thank you to everyone who was involved in the day.

The Better Business Network Square Food Foundation Hobbs House Bakery Tracklements Lexus Bristol Marshfield Farm Ice Cream

WHY Is it important to host events in nature?

We believe that the closer people are to nature, the more they will protect it. Events like these are not just beneficial for the environment but also the participants. Here are some key benefits:

• Enhances Physical and Mental Health: Spending time in nature reduces stress, boosts mood, and improves physical health.
• Fosters Environmental Stewardship: Hands-on activities encourage a sense of responsibility and commitment to protecting our planet.
• Promotes Team and Community Building: Corporate or community events in nature strengthen team cohesion and improve collaboration among colleagues or classmates.

By hosting these types of events, we are not only contributing to environmental sustainability and community building but also inspiring individuals and organisations to take meaningful action. Join us in our mission to make a positive impact on nature and our communities.