Our festive snowman trail for 2023 is ready to welcome visitors, with 19 wooden snowmen to find along woodland paths across the Estate.
Designed and painted by local children there really are ‘snow excuses’ for failing to go along see the snowmen, in woods at Mortimer West End, Mortimer, Silchester and Burghfield Common.
A trail map and full details is available here.
Forestry Manager Richard Edwards and his team have been busy over the past few weeks delivering the snowmen to local schools and groups, ready to be painted with their winter wardrobe. All are now in position along the free-to-follow trail.
Richard said: “The trail is all about getting people out to explore the woodlands and enjoy some free festive fun and fresh air during the school holidays. People of all ages will enjoy seeing how many they can spot and we always love seeing everyone’s snowman selfies.
“To visit all 19 snowmen is over nine miles, so we’d encourage people to plan a few visits to see them all. All the snowmen are accessible from the woodland paths, and there is a group of snowmen positioned closer together in the College Piece Woodland, near Mortimer, to ensure younger children can enjoy spotting them too.”
Each 5ft wooden snowman was handcrafted using timber sustainably sourced from the Estate. Last year’s snowmen are being recycled and reused to make the trail as environmentally friendly as possible.
We send a big thank you to the eight schools that helped with the design of the snowmen.
They were Burghfield St Mary’s Primary School, Garland Junior School, Mrs Bland’s Infant and Nursery School, Mortimer St Mary’s Junior School, Mortimer St John’s Infant School, Silchester Primary School, Sulhamstead and Ufton Nervet Primary School and The Willink .
Also getting in on the design fun this year were beavers from 1st Ufton Nervet and cubs from 1st Burghfield & Sulhamstead Scout Groups, as well as members of 2nd Silchester Brownies and young people from Stable Futures, Amegreen Children’s services.
“Every year we’re hugely impressed with the creativity in the designs! It’s impossible to pick a favourite from them all,” Richard added.
Those visiting the trail are encouraged to share their photos by tagging the Englefield Estate on Instagram - @englefieldestate; X (formerly Twitter) - @EnglefieldUK; and Facebook - /EnglefieldEstate, or by using the hashtag #EnglefieldSnowmen.