Key

I: = Interviewer
P: = Participants
[time e.g. 5:22] = inaudible word at this time
[5:22 IA] = inaudible section at this time
[word] = best guess at word
… = interruption in sentence, trailing off or short pause

P:Where do you find the most peaceful?
P:Probably Crowdundle Beck. You can hear lots of little birds chirping and the river waves. Everybody’s really excited when they go and then when they get there they’re just… go down a bit because it’s quite a quiet place. In Forest School Miss Capstick will be doing carving so we can find wood and carve them with potato peelers because we’re not going to carve them with knives. And then sometimes we’ll build dens so Miss Capstick brings little sheets and we can hook them up on trees and make little dens and a little seat. You feel quite sleepy afterwards because it’s quite relaxing. It’s like when you go to a spa and you just feel really tired and you just want to sleep afterwards, it’s like that.
I:There’s something rather lovely, the water flowing past you, isn’t it?
P:I like the sound of the trickling.
P:Yeah, I would like to have a little camera and put it in the water like a fish and follow it from one of the tributaries and see where the beck goes.
P:And like watch it go through the turns.
P:Yeah from the fishes’ point of view.
I:That would be so cool, wouldn’t it? I wonder if anybody has…
P:I could actually do that.
P:Or like a little boat.
I:Float it all the way down.
P:Yeah, I’ve actually got an underwater camera. I think maybe next time when I go I might do something like that, maybe walk in the beck and just hold it down and just walk down with it.
P:Maybe if you were older you could set it up in the middle of the river and watch it all throughout the day. Or maybe have like a little submarine with a camera on it going all the way down to where it ends up.
P:I think that my favourite thing is probably the river because you can hear it when you’re walking through and it’s quite nice.
P:The sounds that I hear are the birds, the river, lots of other nature-y stuff.
P:Is there any in particular things you hear?
P:In particular favourite and that is hearing the birds chirping and hearing what type of birds chirp it is. So sometimes I can tell without an app, like if it’s a pigeon or if it’s a dove. But sometimes you can hear chiffchaffs and sometimes you can hear woodpeckers and it’s really fascinating.
I:What things can you hear?
P:I can hear… if it’s windy I can hear the rustling of the trees. If I’m down by the river I can hear the river flowing or the crunching of the leaves. Even if I saw a bird I can hear the chirping and I think I would like to go there when it’s early to hear the dawn chorus there.
P:It’s quite good having the full experience because then you get more time, not just running around, speeding, looking at everything. Actually take your time to look at the little things, not just the big things. Just maybe look at flowers or leaves.
P:I like the sound of the water and the birds.
I:How does the sound of the water and the birds, how does that make you feel?
P:Relaxed usually.
P:I like just seeing on a calm day if it’s sitting still, like if the river is not moving. But if it’s a really windy day how it can get really rough.
P:Yeah, I’ve actually been down to part of it and it’s very, very nice in the shallow bits. And I do like the little stream that comes off. There’s the big gate where they let the water in for the mill, that stream is quite nice. And then I’ve actually been down to a little beach sort of kind of thing near the beck and I’ve been in it and… yeah.
I:Paddled in it or just stood in your wellies?
P:Wellies and I’ve actually been right to the middle of it. It was quite cool to look down the river and see the water flowing. Yeah.
P:Yeah, I love the water.
I:What do you love about the water?
P:Because it doesn’t really get that cold. Some people have different opinions but to me it’s not that cold.
P:All I could hear was rushing water, it was really loud. I couldn’t hear anything else at that time.
I:And do you prefer it when it’s quieter or when you can hear the rushing water?
P:I like it when you can hear the water and just not the grinding.
I:Right, you really like the sound of the water, any water?
P:It’s any water.
P:Well, when we go to Forest School I like to build the dens and make the clay sculptures. But if we’re not in Forest School my favourite thing to probably do is probably go down to the bottom and look at the lake or look at the coalmine.
P:How do you feel after Forest School?
P:If it’s wet then not very good but if it’s sunny I’ll be really happy that I’ve been outside and seen the nature of everything. I feel excited most of the time because it’s something you get to do outdoors or something because I like going outdoors a lot.
P:Our Forest School teacher and she takes us down to Acorn Bank to do Forest School and when we’re doing Forest School we build dens, we do clay models and we just have a really good time. I feel like when I’m in school my shoulders are always up but when I’m in Forest School I feel like my shoulders gradually go down and I feel like I just… But then when I come back it’s just nice and refreshing.
I:How do you feel when you come back to school?
P:I feel refreshed and like I’ve done something different to what I’d usually be doing.
P:Sometimes I like to walk, like when we go to Forest School we walk from school and we go through fields and it’s nice to have the full experience of not just going in the car and being out in nature.
P:I normally like to go either in the spring when all the daffodils are coming out or in the winter and then compare the differences. Because both of them are equally as beautiful.
P:What’s your favourite season?
P:My favourite season has got to be spring or summer but I would say mainly spring because you get to see all the flowers come out and more animals come out.
P:When do you like to go? What seasons, what time?
P:I like to go in autumn probably because all the trees are orange and they’re falling down and as you walk you can… the leaves crunch and it’s a nice sound.
P:Yeah, it is.
P:What are the best flowers?
P:Probably the ones near the pond when it’s spring.
P:I think it’s important to go to Forest School because for your mental health. If you’re stuck inside a classroom the whole time, and sometimes when it’s outside it can be raining and it can be slippy and we don’t have all the freedom that we want. And sometimes we can go a bit stir crazy just in the classroom. I think it’s really good, we should be able to go out into the fresh air and be able to have a bit of freedom and not have all these boundaries.
P:I agree with Lola on this one, it’s just good for your mental health and I do not like being cooped up in a classroom.
P:I feel so much calmer because I feel like when I’m in school my shoulders are always up but when I’m in Forest school I feel that my shoulders gradually go down. But then when I come back… it’s just nice and refreshing because then also if there’s been anything like falling outs or arguments or something that’s upset you, you can go out and it just makes you think about the better things and focusing on the not so good things.
P:I feel like sometimes the air feels fresh, like I feel quite relaxed after I’ve been there just to hear the birds and… yeah.
P:What was your favourite part of the sawmill?
P:Sitting by the river to hear the river.
P:Did you see anything in the river?
P:I saw a few fish.
P:When you come back from Acorn Bank how do you feel?
P:Like I’m stepping back into school after a long holiday of calm.
P:Do you feel refreshed?
P:Yes.
P:Do you feel a lot calmer?
P:A little bit, yes.