Tehidy Country Park - 'Time for Tehidy'

Young people in care bring new meaning to Tehidy.

Poets Megan Chapman, AKA MCMC Spoken, and Mac Dunlop, have been working with children in care to explore connection with nature and the idea of privacy as she develops the poetry privy creative and wellness project around an unassuming old toilet house at Tehidy Country Park.

On 12th and 14th of August young people in care in Cornwall were invited to contribute to the Poetry Privy initiative, led by Megan Chapman at Tehidy Country Park. They listened to poetry prepared by the poet and explored the site before coming up with their own words, drawings and poems which will contribute to the reimagining of the inside of the privy block.

The group was supported by Carefree, and feedback from the participants explained how many of them used the experience of exploring nature to increase mindfulness, connection with the present and focus on a creative activity.

The young people engaged said it was nice to be in nature for a change, not stuck indoors and that they enjoyed having laughs and hanging out together.

the poetry privy will be created and open to visitors later this year, along with a book of poetry created by Megan.

Cornwall council would like to thank all of the young people and families involved in bringing life and meaning to the initiative.

Creafree group at Tehidy for poetry Privy session, August 2024

Call out to all creative practitioners across Cornwall and beyond

Krowji, Cornwall’s leading creative hub and part of the Creative Kernow charity group, have partnered with Cornwall Council to offer up to four funded creative residencies in a former estate workers cottage at Tehidy Country Park starting from October 2024.

Offering creatives the opportunity to embed themselves at Tehidy for residencies of up to 3, this is the very first Creative Residency Programme of its kind to take place in the cottage at Tehidy. Having been carefully designed and developed with the help of the highly experienced studio management team at Krowji, the aim is to provide creatives with a new and exciting platform to progress their career and contribute towards the growth of Cornwall’s creative and cultural sector.

Nestled close to the edge of Tehidy Country Park, the largest woodland in West Cornwall, there are two former estate workers cottages which have recently been sensitively restored and renovated. Accommodation and studio space will be provided within one of these beautiful, characterful, and inspiring cottages. The artists will have access to a yard with open and covered workspaces in which hot works and the use of tools can take place, making these residencies suitable for a diverse range of practitioners.

Fiona Wotton, CEO of Creative Kernow, says ‘Residencies can be hard to find but represent an important part of any creative economy and can be a transformative step in a creative career. Creative Kernow is delighted its trading company/Creative hub, Krowji, is to take a leading role in the Tehidy Creative Residency programme which will contribute to our shared/charity group’s ambition to open Cornwall’s creative culture to all audiences across Cornwall and extend Cornwall’s unique creative offer’.

Seeking to increase public engagement with Tehidy Country Park, it is hoped that applicants will be interested in using their residency to address barriers to accessing the outdoors, raising awareness about the natural environment and wellbeing. Successful applicants/ artists in residence will be required to run workshops and social engagement activities and can make use of the residency cottage, garden, stunning nearby orchard and woodland for these activities, as well as the Community and Wellness Centre housed within the neighbouring cottage.

The intricacies of the seasonal changes as well as the unique sensory experiences of the woodland provide a wonderful pool of inspiration for artists whose practices are engaged in exploring the natural world, particularly Cornwall’s historic landscape. Artists applying for the creative residencies will be interested in engaging a wide range of people with the woodlands through creative means, this can include painting, drawing, sound work, poetry, sculpture and more.

If you would like to apply for one of these creative residencies within the unique, tranquil and energising setting of Tehidy Country Park, please follow the link for the application form and further information. Krowji & Cornwall Council - Tehidy Creative Residency Programme - Krowji

The Tehidy Creative Residency Programme is part of the Tehidy Creative Community and Wellness Initiative has received £ £188,856 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK by investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperityfund-prospectus

Cornwall Council are delighted to be working with exciting Cornish based performance word artist Megan Chapman in an innovative new venture that has been made possible with support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Poetry Privy will see an unassuming former estate-workers outside toilet transformed into a sanctuary of poetry through an initiative involving foster children and families.

Megan who is a foster parent along with her partner Meg, will use the poetic opportunity to explore interpretations of the important concepts of ‘home’ and ‘private space’ with the participants.

The building is currently a mishmash of the original stone, brick and slate construction along with odd bits of cement re-patching and holes in the roof, each element telling a story about the changing times that it has persisted through. Megan’s ideas aim to retain this aesthetic on the outside, whilst covering the inside with creative interpretations created by participants, to be enjoyed from the vantage of a comfortable seat.

Megan’s inspiration comes from wanting to relate to people and give them a voice, saying that “I like to see people through their eyes, to give voice to someone who doesn’t have one”. In this project, the aim is to engage more diverse groups off people in the natural and historical heritage of Tehidy and represent why it is still relevant to people to people today, perhaps even more so than ever.

The project is starting this Spring and is expected to open to the public in autumn this year.

A creative experiential education commission

Cornwall Council is looking for an enthusiastic individual, group or organisation to deliver a fantastic short-term commission for anyone with a passion for community arts and the ability to inspire innovation in artistic thinking and communication.

The Poetry Privy project is aimed at engaging people from the local community that experience barriers to visiting nature and heritage-rich spaces and will delivery the restoration of the Victorian outside loo block, whilst creating something new inside based on the ideas of the project participants from the local community.

The commission is part of a wider Creative and wellness Community initiative that is restoring and repurposing former estate buildings at the site and will result in a Artists Residence and Wellness Centre as well as the Poetry Privy.

Applicants for Poetry Privy, should be able to manage the historic building repairs, as well as lead new audiences in exploring heritage, and crucially facilitate the reimaging of the site to deliver an immersive art experience in the inside of the privy block.

Applications are sought no later than noon on Tuesday 27th February 2024.

The tender document can be found in the documents tab of this website (https://letstalk.cornwall.gov.uk/14262/widgets/41686/documents/53672), or obtained by contacting charlotte.evans@cornwall.gov.uk

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Cornwall Council has been chosen by Government as a Lead Authority for the fund and is responsible for monitoring the progress of projects funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

During 2024 two former estate workers cottages will be renovated for new uses as part of a creative and wellness hub at the country park.

The work, which is possible after a successful application to the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Shared Prosperity Fund, will commence early this year and will include some opportunities for local creatives and nature-based social prescribing practitioners.

Located in the area known as Kennels Hill, one of the cottages will be transformed into a artists residency, with artists have the opportunity to apply to base themselves for free up until March 2025. Cornwall Council is partnering with Creative Kernow to run the residency and details will be coming out soon. The other cottage is to become a community wellness resource centre, with a therapy room and space for community events.

The initiative builds on two key strands already emerging well at the site, with the Rogue Theatre and other site-based providers like Remembering Our Roots representing creativity and wellness, with the new ventures helping to reimagine Tehidy for new audiences and encourage many more people to benefit from getting out into nature at the historic site.

The Tehidy cultural and wellness community resource initiative is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Cornwall Council has been chosen by Government as a Lead Authority for the fund and is responsible for monitoring the progress of projects funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

We are delighted that the new venture behind Tehidy Woods cafe is off to a great start and pleased that the cafe is now providing a great service to visitors.

Tehidy woods cafe is open from 10 to 4 every day except Tuesday and has a fresh new look:

If you haven't yet experienced the new offer, please find out more and pop along to give it a go. TEHIDY WOODS CAFE | Lands End Coffee

Please check the cafe website and social media for upcoming events and activities, including a Christmas Wreath Workshop on 2nd December: https://www.landsendcoffee.co.uk/event-details-registration/christmas-wreath-workshop

On 10^th August Cormac’s Melissa Ralph and Stuart Croft teamed up with Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) and National Trust (NT) staff, to help harvest Cornish wildflower and grass seed.

They collected clean seed from Cornwall Council's (CC) beautiful species rich grassland at Tehidy Country Park, which includes yellow rattle, bird’s foot trefoil, red clover, common knapweed and fine grasses.

Penwith Landscape Partnership’s seed harvester bushes up seed and chaff into a hopper, to then be manually sieved through screens of large and smaller mesh, to remove most of the chaff.

The cleaned seed will help restore species richness at the following locations:

• CWT will deliver grassland improvement in the Drift catchment (15ha)
• NT will use their share in the ‘Cornwall Coastal Meadow Project’ 2023-2025 (250ha in total)
• Cormac will enrich several CC greenspaces and road verges to improve diversity to local grasslands – watch this space!

This comes after the successful use of seed from the meadow in many Cornwall Council gree spaces across Cornwall in recent years, which have proved the approach is viable.

Jan Dinsdale of CWT said ‘Thank you to organisations and collogues for your time at Tehidy last week. It was such a positive and productive day, working in partnership to harvest the seed and making useful connections between our various organisations at the same time.’

Following an unexpected period of closure, the cafe will be open from Thursday to Sunday inclusive throughout the summer holidays up to the late August bank holiday.

For the most up to date opening information, please always check the cafe Facebook page: Tehidy Country Park Cafe | Camborne | Facebook

We are very grateful for everyone continuing to visit the cafe and understanding that events beyond our control have led to reduced opening.

27.07.2023 Update

The cafe will be open from Thursday to Sunday inclusive throughout the summer holidays up to the late August bank holiday.

For the most up to date opening information, please always check the cafe Facebook page: Tehidy Country Park Cafe | Camborne | Facebook

We are very grateful for everyone continuing to visit the cafe and understanding that events beyond our control have led to reduced opening.

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Please be advised that due to unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances the cafe at Tehidy Country Park is temporarily closed. Please continue to check this site for future updates.

Thank you in advance for understanding.

We would like to wish all stakeholders, volunteers and visitors to Tehidy Country Park a very happy New Year! A trip to the woods at any time of year is a reminder of constant change and renewal as nature responds to the seasons, but as another year dawns we are reminded that of those who return time and again to help keep the Country Park running.

This year, following the lifting of Covid restrictions, has been particularly important for the businesses based at Tehidy, Rogue Theatre, Remembering our Roots and Tehidy Cafe. We thank them for the magic that they make happen for their clients and wish them every sucess in 2023.

Image Credit: Rogue Otherworld

Equally, we recognise the multitude of organisations that run community and volunteer events at the woods. 2022 has seen many; an apple pressing day supported by Resilient Orchards Cornwall, Budding Nature's Bio-blitz and Cornwall AONB's Art in the Landscape event give just a flavour. We hope these, and many others, will continue to see Tehidy as a great venue and engage many others in our wonderful Park.

Additionally, we thank our hard working volunteers, recognising that valuable tasks such a litter picks, woodland management and general monitoring and reporting are carried out by dedicated individuals who care deeply about sustaining Tehidy for the community. Many thanks indeed and we look forward to working with you all throughout the year.

2022 has seen Tehidy's Twisted Beech join the 70 ancient trees contributing to the Queen's Green Canopy, the project Monumental Improvement (Cornwall AONB) has been awarded funding to undertake archelogy and conservation of Tehidy Round, and efforts to regenerate the historic kennels complex are underway.

We hope you'll enjoy visiting Tehidy in 2023!