It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Englefield Estate, with the launch of a festive snowman trail through Estate woodland.
Local people can enjoy walking in a winter wonderland with 21 wooden snowmen, designed by local schoolchildren, spread throughout the woodland on a trail designed to encourage people to get out and explore during the school holidays.
The trail is running from Saturday, December 18th until Monday, January 3rd through Estate woodlands near Mortimer West End, Mortimer and Burghfield Common. The location of each snowman is marked on a printable trail map or an interactive online map available on the Outreach page of Englefield Estate website.
Spreading some festive cheer at the most wonderful time of the year, the trail features snowmen adorned with the traditional carrot noses and coal eyes, as well as wintery scenes and even a Father Christmas, all taken from hand-drawn pictures from primary school pupils in the local area.
Richard Edwards, Forestry Manager at the Englefield Estate, said: “We want to encourage local families to get out and explore the local area this Christmas and visit areas of woodland that are different from their usual walking routes.
“We have had some fantastically creative designs from local schools, and I know that children and adults alike will enjoy spotting them and taking a snowman selfie. Please share your photographs with us on social media.”
The seven schools that designed the snowmen 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, and Sulhamstead and Ufton Nervet Primary School.
Three winning designs were chosen from each school, then painted onto 5ft hand-crafted wooden snowmen.
The Englefield Estate manages 14,000 acres of mainly rural land and property in West Berkshire and Hampshire. All the wood for the snowmen has been sourced from the Estate as part of its ongoing and long-term sustainable timber operations.
View the snowman trail map and find out more here.
Photos can be shared by tagging the Englefield Estate on Instagram @englefieldestate, Twitter @EnglefieldUK and Facebook/EnglefieldEstate, or by using the hashtag #EnglefieldSnowmen.