Join us this January for a Wassail at Hainault Forest! This ancient English tradition is held to celebrate orchards, awaken the fruit trees, and encourage a good future harvest. You can expect singing, a tree care workshop, kids crafting activities, a Wassail parade, hot mulled apple juice and cider, and mince pies.

Prior to the main celebration we will have craft workshops, provided by Tinder Sticks. The workshops are suitable for both adults and children +3 years, all children must be with accompanied by an adult.

• Apple Puppet Making Workshop (12:30pm-1:15pm & 1:30pm- 2:15pm) 

Have a go at making a puppet from an apple! Decorate with seeds, twigs, and, other natural bits and bobs to create your orchard spirit to help with the parade through the orchard. Once you've finished with your puppet you can hang it in your garden for the birds to enjoy! 

• Natural Noise Maker Workshop (12:30pm-1:15pm & 1:30pm- 2:15pm)

Bang, shake and jingle your way through the orchard, a Wassail parade is not complete unless you make some noise! Come along and make jingle bell sticks, castanets and bottle cap shakers from natural resources mostly found in Hainault Forest.

These workshops will be in two 45 minute timeslots, with one between 12:30 and 1:15pm and another between 1:30 and 2:15pm, in which you can do both workshops in each timeslot. Please make sure you attend the time slot you book. The workshops can only hold 15 people per workshop at a time.

After the Workshop, the celebrations will begin!

This event is fully outdoors with limited wet weather cover -  so please be prepared! Appropriate outdoor clothing, waterproofs, and sturdy shoes are advised. The activity may be cancelled in the event of extreme weather.

If you're travelling to us via public transport the 247 and 362 buses stop directly outside the site. Alternatively, if you are travelling by car, the Hainault Forest car park is operated by the RingGo payment system.

Joining instructions will be sent out a few days before the event.

For more information, please contact: 

• hainaultforest@visionrcl.org.uk

• ieva.aliejunaite@visionrcl.org.uk