That Forest Feeling in Glasgow’s Southside
A personal reflection from Nicola, parent and board member of We Are Wonder, on her family’s favourite Glasgow southside nature spots.
The Bowling Green, Pollokshields where We Are Wonder first met in 2021.
Hi I’m Nicola, mother of three wild ones and a Glaswegian Southsider since birth. I’ve been a supporter and member of the team since I met Gina & Lillias at the Pollokshields Bowling Green in 2021 when We Are Wonder was a wee sapling. We’ve all gone on to meet hundreds of fellow parents & carers in the Southside of Glasgow through this growing community and enjoyed countless muddy afternoons together.
With a deliciously wide range of backgrounds, family set-ups and cultures, I feel there’s two factors we all have in common:
- we all care for at least one child,
- we all find ways to prioritise outdoor play and eduction for those children.
Known for our wet climate, the weather in Glasgow varies more than outsiders may realise. We can have warm, sunny days in March and stormy days in July. We can need thermals in April and suncream in October.
When it comes to We Are Wonder and outdoors, only extreme or very windy weather has ever been enough to cancel a meet up or session, when the risk becomes too much.
That’s not to say that soggy feet, faceplants in a puddle, wasp stings, wet bums or rumbly tummies haven’t seen some of us leave sessions early - but it’s safe to say we’re a prepared and hardy bunch when it comes to outdoor play.
So if you’re looking for that Scottish Forest feeling in the Southside suburbs of Glasgow - we’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find a bit more info on three major parks on our doorstep and why I love them.
Queens Park
Beneath the beech trees in Queen’s Park.
Named after Mary Queen of Scots and a nod to the bloody battle which took place here in the 1500s, Queens Park is Glasgow’s third oldest park, opening in 1862 with the expansion of the city to the south side of the river. These days it’ll take you about 10 minutes to get here from the city centre.
The site chosen by Gina and Lillias for the Friday meet-ups is known as Camphill - a landmark with a rich history dating back thousands of years. On more recent development projects, roman coins have been found within the park grounds as well as pottery and items dating back to at least before the 14th century. Pack the metal detectors!
To find this site, follow the park’s signposts up, up and up to the flagpole. From here there’s incredible views of Glasgow all the way to Ben Lomond and the Campsie Glen. A great spot to get kids to count church tops.
From here, with the park fence on your left and the flagpole behind you, you’ll be looking towards the spot we spent many fun We Are Wonder Fridays.
The site offers some really beautiful sunshine on the right days, with plenty of leafy den areas and low limbed trees to climb. We've had impressive tarpaulin shelters thrown up here, we hosted crafts sessions, litter picked and celebrated birthdays. But mostly we all made the steep walk up to enjoy the woodland vibe the contained site allows.
The ancient ring around the site provides a visible boundary for the children old enough to adventure without adults. For the other troop, those aged 0+, needing supervision - or supervising - hammocks, slack lines and tree swings seem to do the trick for hours and hours on end and suitable trees were never in short supply.
I’ll never forget the magical mini rainbow we were gifted with here one day, you can see that on our instagram.
A great park for sledging, another favourite zone here for small children would be the outdoor amphitheatre, offering a little shelter on rainy days while still novel enough for a run around and hide & seek in the bordering shrubs. It’s worth keeping your eyes out for family-friendly events here which pop up during the spring and summer.
Pollok Country Park
A foraging walk in Pollok Park.
Pollok Park, once a private estate belonging to the city’s well known Maxwell family for around 800 years, it was gifted to the people of Glasgow in 1966. It was awarded European Park of the Year in 2008 and as locals, it’s not hard to see why, this country park is expansive with lots of different types of outdoor fun to be had depending on which area you choose.
Aside from the fantastic and well kept gardens Pollok House offers (don’t miss the dinosaurs bones or the wee fairy glen beside the vegetable garden when visiting this part of the park!) Pollok Park boasts highland cattle, a golf course and the world renowned Burrell Collection, a large, recently refurbished museum with artefacts and art from all over the world.
With free entry and a few fun interactive exhibitions, this is always a great Plan B that’s a 5 or 10 minute walk of some very ancient feeling woodland.
We Are Wonder, with the support of Glasgow City Council began running outdoor learning sessions in these woods behind The Burrell. I’ve spent many hours in this forest before and after this time. Well trodden by likeminded families, dog walkers and the wild deer which roam around, the children loved this space, which will soon be carpeted by bluebells. We’ve found frog spawn, newts and of course - the lunch stealing squirrels. Bold yins.
With young children and adults willing to go off the paths, the spaces we find in these parks can evoke the feeling that you are not as close to civilisation as you actually are.
The man made duck pond, with it’s cute little bridge over to a tiny island has offered my children hours of entertainment over the years. There’s some unassuming looking logs at the NorthWest of this pond with a carved sculpture in the middle - top tip - bring some seeds and place them on these logs and stay still for a flourish of tits, robins and other native birds who rely on the public feeding them here in Winter. On Google Maps this is humble pond is shown with the rather grand title of Pollok Park Islands, with froglets, feathers, ducks to feed and a bench for mum - what’s not to love?
On the opposite side of the path to this pond is another ancient site that has been a favourite We Are Wonder meeting point. The iron age ringwork here, dating back to over 2000 years ago, is like a ready made outdoor playground. Fallen trees, bogs-a-plenty and a very childfriendly section of the mountain bike tracks (think long, straight with lots of mud ramps), it’s one of those places that is hard to get the little ones to leave.
Bellahouston Park
Underneath the Horse Chesnut in Bellahouston Park.
Bellahouston Park, or Bella as it’s known locally, is another park rich in history.
Our site sits atop the huge hill with views to the city, Eaglesham wind farm, Paisley and beyond. Bellahouston Park is famous for the great British Empire Exhibition of 1938, a rabbit hole worth delving into, with the Palace of Art here the only surviving building. For those with pre-school children who haven’t yet tried the PlayGym sessions here (or Kelvinhall), they’re well worth a try.
While I couldn’t find any history quite as ancient as some of my favourite surrounding sites, it seems unlikely to me that it hasn’t had some kind of important role in the region for longer than online records show, given Bellahouston’s vantage point as one of the largest hills closest to the city.
Exposed in recent research by Glasgow University, the dark history of Glasgow’s slave trade springs up in relation to Bellahouston Park, with the owners of the private estate directly linked to West India merchants in the 1800s. The private estate was sold to the Glasgow Corporation in 1892.
From the first look this park looks like it’s not got a lot going on. Large, wide paths - perfect for kites, bikes and dogwalking yes, but great for us nature lovers?
A short walk to the woodland at the top and around the Charles Rennie Macintosh House for an Art Lover you’ll soon discover lots of interesting nooks and crannies. The play park here (free car park at the house for an art lover) is one of my favourites. With each bit of playpark apparatus on its own mound, and lots of space between each, it’s a great playpark to tire them out *enter evil laugh here*. Wellies are a must for this time of year.
The small, walled garden on a sunny day is blissful, cutting out that wind the way the walls were intended. With spring around the corner I can’t wait to see what’s been planted in here as it’s usually pretty spectacular tulips or colourful border flowers perfectly lined. Beware the triggering KEEP OFF THE GRASS signs on that oh-so-tempting, perfectly trimmed, rolled lawn…
We Are Wonder sessions begin at the play park, with our teams walking the young people up to our site at the top in the woods. As with the woods in Pollok, the children have quickly claimed this area, with dens, borders and zones invisible to the uninitiated. There are a few unusual and interesting trees planted around our site, presumably when the stately house was on the site. The site has a kind of natural path that flows through it and is ample room for 20 or so kids to call their own. It’s a great example of an area that will allow you to top up that green feel, without a 45 minute drive to do so.
More recently we met with the Glasgow City Council park rangers following some pretty impressive damage following story Éwoyn. Being present, developing and helping to maintain the sites we use is important for many reasons, including safety - but also to connect to the site.
Gina and Lillias instilled in me early on in our relationship that the connection to one place all year round allows young people to see the development of the same area in every season. It’s hard to fathom on a cold February day that in a couple of months we will need bug repellent, suncream and some of the areas we trample will soon be too overgrown.
These pockets can be found all over the city, a couple more in the southside I highly recommend:
Dams to Darnley Walk (start at Darnley, since there are development works at the other side for now)
Crookston Castle
Rouken Glen Park
Linn Park
When I’m in these spaces I often wonder to myself how many other parents have wandered the same paths we are wandering. Has blowing dandelions changed in the last few thousand years? Have children always needed someone to save them from bogs?
Nature + children. It must be one of a handful of combinations that can transcend time, space and societal boundaries.
If you’d ever like to join us for future meet-ups and We Are Wonder events, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via our social media or email.
References
Martin Morrison: Youtube 2020: Camphill Earthworks | Queen's Park | Glasgow | Iron Age | History of Scotland | Before Caledonia
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U6sej6rrEdY
Glasgow Life: Queen’s Park - Times Past: 2022
Martin Morrison: Youtube 2020: Pollok Park Ringwork | Glasgow | Iron Age Britain | Ancient History of Scotland | Before Caledonia
https://youtube.com/watch?v=meggF_Kjbt0
Saskia McCracken: The Stevens and Bellahouston Park
https://sghet.com/project/the-stevens-and-bellahouston-park/
Martin McCarthy: Ancient Scotland Website: Pollock Ring Work
The Not Back To School Day
Hi, my name is Lillias. I am a co-founder of We Are Wonder and together with Gina we envisaged the core values at the heart of all our offerings. I have since stepped back in my active delivery role, supporting the team strategically as an active Board member of the CIC. Both my children participate in The Den and The Nest and I am a grateful member of the community (also currently loving the monthly makers circle Hearth).
“What do you do all day?”
This post is taken from a piece of writing I made earlier this year for Substack. It is not directly about The Nest, The Den or We Are Wonder but rather how we weave together offerings and interests to build a home educated/un-schooled family life in Glasgow.
I have been asked the question ‘but what do you actually do all day?’ more times than I can count recently by families curious about home education/unschooling or flexi schooling. So I thought it deserved a post and that it may also be of interest to the wider We Are Wonder community.
I do not delve into the reasons why we decided to home educate or our values. It is simply a documentation of one week in June 2024. I hope it will also answer questions about the practicalities of money/time and how as a family we find balance between our passions, creative work, earning a living, personal and family life. I welcome a dialogue with you and any questions/comments you may have.
This is snap shot: ONE day in our life. A day out of ONE week, in the month of June and does not reflect ‘home education’ in general. I have tried to authentically capture our day, yet it is nevertheless seen through a lens of positivity as you do not see the moments of meltdown or conflict which occurred!
There is only one very brief sighting of my partner! This is not to say that he is uninvolved with, or unsupportive of home education - quite the opposite but Monday is his work day.
Sit down with a cuppa and enjoy the read/viewing…
August 2024 (first week back for Scottish schools)
My finger has been hesitating over the ‘send’ button due to an incredibly busy few months painting my latest picture book, but also sitting in acknowledgment of my privilege, which I would like to recognise before sharing what feels a very personal account, and as such a vulnerable insight into our family life. All those who appear have given consent.
I am a white, educated woman. I was brought up in a family of artists with modest earnings but with a generous growth mindset. In watching the video of ‘our day’ I am acutely aware of our privilege but also that living differently for us, leans heavily on the investment of time and passion over money. We are making change. Raising children in a consent-based, self-directed, nature-led environment and questioning the way we live. I am proud of this.
Here we are - three years into home educating. The shape of our days has evolved with the children and I am aware it will look different next year or even next week. Flexibility is key and I have learnt not to be concerned with what could happen and focus on what works now. If it is not working, you have the power to change direction. If you feel your family needs something but it’s not available then you have the power to make it happen (like The Nest).
We travel, we spend time with family in the Borders, sometimes the children become ill, plans change but on this Monday the 10th of June we are in Glasgow and our day looked like this (music by Crooked Still).
What Our Week Looks Like:
Steiner Group
An informal collective of three families that we set up in 2023.
One of the parents is a trained Steiner School teacher and teaches the three older children. The other adults facilitate free play with the younger children before joining together for snack and painting or knitting session.
10-1 Monday and Tuesday. 10-11:30 Wednesday.
£20 a month donation per family towards materials
Wolf Pack Intergenerational Dance Group
Tuesday 6-7:30
Myself and L attend
FREE
Glasgow Home Ed
Wednesday 12-4
FREE
Swimming Lesson
Thursday 10:30 - 11
£100 a month
NHS Speech Therapy
Thursday 1-1:30
FREE (for S but L attends as well)
Circus Fitness
Thursday 6-7
Myself and L attend
£7 per person
The Nest
A consent based, self-directed, nature-led learning community for young people aged 5-16 which I founded with Gina in 2022.
Leo
Friday 10-4
£30
Woodland’s Outdoor Kindergarten (WOK)
S attends
Friday 10:30 - 3:30
FREE Council funded place
French School
Saturday 10-12
L & S attend
£35 per child per month
Play Time
We value free play and make sure there is plenty space for play moving freely indoors and outdoors, with friends, family, siblings and solo. It’s always self-directed. I am present, generally doing things around the house and available to help facilitate, but not entertain!
Home education/un-schooling is a whole family/community, collaborative endeavour. For us it is not just about the children. It needs to work for everyone. If you are interested in ways in which I fit in my creative work and how I feel home educating may open up time that I otherwise would not have if I worked from 9-5 you can hop over to my Substack for a read: More Time Not Less Creative tips which bend time! The surprising reality of home educating, mothering and creativity.
And leaving you on a note of authenticity… There have been many changes for us over the summer and on our return from our 6 week bike packing trip we felt a need to realign our week in response to our evolving individual and family needs. This translated into S & L joining The Den, an extra ‘work’ day for myself, shorter Steiner group days and Capoeira in place of Circus.
I am fascinated to learn how others make home education work for their family and also to hear questions coming from those who don’t currently home educate but are considering it. So please, if you so wish, leave a comment below.
Autism and Outdoor Learning: an Autistic Practitioner’s Perspective
Marwen is a Director of Wild Green Space CIC and works across projects at The Nest, Den and Roost at We Are Wonder. They are currently planning a 3 day event ‘Tangles in the Trees: a Celebration of Outdoor Autistic Play’ for Easter 2025.
“When I spend my time amongst green and growing things I am reminded of my organic self. It is the experience of being simultaneously in and of nature that helps me connect my thinking self with my blood,bones and muscles, with my aches and pains, and with my senses. This ephemeral awareness is at times for me as a distant echo or a tiny voice, though when I am in distress it thunders and stamps, demanding attention at the expense of everything else.
Through a quiet awareness of self and of my body existing in space I gain a greater awareness of my exact, in the moment mental state: am I tired? Thirsty? Joyful? Then come my spoons* – those I have lost through exertion, through complex social interaction and through sensory overwhelm; and those I have to spare.
Group tool use during a session of The Nest.
When I spend time in the woods I am more able to give myself time to notice these things about myself and to take stock of how they will affect my day or my week. It is a space that inspires stillness, reflection and in-the moment sensory feedback in a way that indoor spaces just don’t do for me.
A comfy sofa in a heated room leaves my mind dull and my body sleepy, but a hammock or a tree swing in the woods, there is nothing more peaceful! I could gaze up at a canopy for hours in early springtime and look for patterns amongst the leaves, for signs of crown shyness or symmetry.
I authentically tap into my playful self with the basic and stripped down nature of our offerings. I find quiet, contemplative joy in the unravelling of string,then exhilarating order in the weaving of nets,webs or mouse sized ladders. I find a lot of satisfaction in a stick, carefully selected for its assigned purpose, I enjoy whittling away some of its imperfections and bringing others to light as it takes form into gnome or mushroom or spoon or humble tent peg.
I love to have a project always at hand, something to do with my hands and my senses as I assist in the day's activities and listen to the needs of the group. I randomly and sporadically stim – uttering small nonsense words, humming, flapping my hands or steepling my fingers.
I often act as a mirror for the group, even when I am low in spoons to spare I can reflect back the vibe and energy of an individual at play as I resort to unconscious mimicry that adds weight to their comedy and turns silliness into full on skits. In this way I become less conscious of my position as an ‘adult’ and more in tune with the group. As a wild woodland being I can let go of social expectations, unmask a bit and seek to use my imagination to weave stories, to entertain, to collaborate in world building and role playing.
Communication, processing words and simultaneous conversations can lead me to feeling exhausted and fragile after work – sensory overload from voices, high winds, loud lawnmowers and the constant ever-present hum of traffic that is unavoidable in an urban Glasgow park all chip away at my resilience. I find myself stuck in the minutiae, wading through small conflicts, trying to keep one eye in the future communicating to the group what will be happening. I believe this makes a difference to their comfort as well as my own ability to anticipate needs before they overwhelm me.
There is no greater privilege however than being able to live and work in an environment so well suited to my needs. To take a playful approach to life and work is a balm to anxiety and leaves me open to finding new interests and passion. These are often brought forth by the young people themselves in how I find ways to relate to them and to facilitate their learning”.
* Christine Miserandino coined spoon theory at a college diner to better explain to her friend what it was like to live with a chronic illness using spoons as a stand in for finite units of energy. A person living with a disability, mental illness or chronic pain has only so many spoons to spend on accomplishing tasks and must be meticulous with their decisions on what to use their spoons on in order to avoid going into deficits and risking burnout or a health relapse. Many neurodivergent people including myself resonate with this concept and use it as a framework for discussing our capacity on a given day. https://neurodivergentinsights.com/blog/the-neurodivergent-spoon-drawer-spoon-theory-for-adhders-and-autists
** For more information on participating in “Tangles in the Trees” please contact Marwen directly at marwen@wearewonder.org