Heath Week celebrates our heathland heritage with a week of events reflecting the ecology, history and recreational importance of the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths. This year Heath Week ran from Monday 29th July to Friday 2nd August and was supported by a number of organisations across the heaths, including:
- Clinton Devon Estates
- Devon Wildlife Trust
- RSPB
- Devon Loves Dogs
- South East Devon Wildlife
- Wild East Devon
- Seachange
- Devon Orienteering Club
- Jurassic Coast Trust
Throughout the week, attendees enjoyed walks, talks and activities for all ages and interests including ranger walks, orienteering, waggy walks, pond dipping, botany walks, wild crafts, bat walks, self-guided trails, archaeology walks, pre-historic pot making and much more!
Heath Week Highlights, including Pre-Historic Pot Making, Waggy Walks, Pebblebed Olympics, and Archaeology Walks.
Each day was also supported by the Heathland Hub which roamed across the heaths, giving visitors the opportunity to talk to staff and volunteers working across the heaths about the landscape and its wildlife to better understand the features and importance of the Pebblebed Heaths, to support visitors’ confidence and appropriate use of the heaths outside of Heath Week.
Heathland Hub at Woodbury Castle
Many of the activities during Heath Week have been made possible using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. The Pebblebeds For All Project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to:
- Host the Heathland Hub with our new Community Engagement Ranger for three days during Heath Week.
- Host Pre-Historic Pot Making activities.
- Create the Pebblebed Olympics.
- Create new craft activities including, Pebblebed Olympic medal making, logic puzzles and word searches.
Thanks to National Lottery Players, over 900 people visited the heaths during Heath Week 2024 and enjoyed the wide range of activities on offer. Below some attendees shared their feedback with us:
“My little boy was so engrossed with all of the activities. The helpers were really friendly and taught him about the local area and creatures. “
“I really enjoyed the craft activities and also getting to know the local history better. Finding out about local opportunities and the people running the event were very informative and lovely to talk to.”
“Genuinely friendly, informative and helpful guide and staff. Lovely location, fascinating talk, pottery was great fun!”
“Thank you for organising a brilliant event. We truly appreciate all the organisation that went into the day. All the staff and volunteers were kind, encouraging and extremely knowledgeable. We had a great day and will return for a family walk.”
“Thank you to your dedicated team of passionate, enthusiastic rangers who make the countryside come alive with their knowledge”
Thanks to National Lottery Players
Thank you to everyone who completed our Heath Week 2024 feedback form and thank you to all our kind and generous donors for donating our Heath Week Hamper, your support is greatly appreciated!
Thank you to everyone who attended Heath Week 2024, and we look forward to seeing you again in 2025!
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