Tales from Tortworth Arboretum – Meg’s story
As we mark 10 years of Tortworth Forest Centre, we're sharing stories from the people who’ve helped shape our journey. This week, we hear from Meg, a fantastic freelancer who has been part of our team.
I was introduced to Tortworth by my old boss Amy. She had left the city and found solace in Stroud. When she heard I had also left work she called me out to the woods as a guest chef for the Hawthorn and Oak Tree projects. It immediately felt like one of the most nourishing spaces I had been in for a long time, and it felt so appropriate to be cooking food on the fire for the groups to properly indulge that sense of nourishment.
The staff and the participants were very welcoming to me in what felt like a very sacred space of theirs: the woods. I have spent lots of time in woodlands but never an arboretum. It was interesting to feel the freedom and its peace within a very well maintained and curated wild space.
Now, as project assistant, I am enjoying exploring more of the woods beyond the kitchen and the roundhouse and observing the seasons change the nature of the sessions. There’s a resilience to the people that keep returning to Tortworth, it is a very heart-warming community to be a part of.
