About

Hello, in respect, and connection. I give a heartfelt 'thanks' to you for being curious and dropping by.  

I've created these products to help us be in connection with our selves, each other and the living world around us, hopefully for the greater good.

Together we are alive.

My mission is to help remind us humans that we are wholly connected with the land and the more than human world, because it seems 'civilisation' and a western philosophy of dualism has made many of us humans feel separate, better, and above the rest of creation. I believe there is a need to remember basic skills and to know our natural neighbours to enable a sustainable, regenerative way forward to humanity. And that belief led to me deciding I needed to write my first book, I LOVE MY WORLD, in the hope that it would help those who read it love the world too.

At 15 I really didn't think I could ever write a book. I passed my English O'level at the second attempt and thought I was fairly useless. Classic low self-esteem

But that changed.

I've been holding space for children and adults to connect more deeply with nature since 2000 when I started my business "Wholeland". Wholeland is a play on words (whole and Holland :-) and basically I'm coming from a "learn to play, play to learn" approach to education, which is mostly outdoors. 

I finished a degree in Environmental Science way back in 1992 and then went walkabout for a while, gaining experience and learning about permaculture, self heal herbalism, bushcraft, storytelling, wilderness living and indigenous philosophy, didgeridoo and percussion, living outdoors for a complete year, raising a family, moving to Devon, and then, in 2004 discovering Forest School was my way forward. 

I wrote I LOVE MY WORLD in 2009 and it became a best selling guide book for families, forest school leaders and educators. Since then I've created more resources, some of which you can find here, in this Shopify store. There's more over on my main website www.natureconnection.co.uk

During term time I'm still a forest school leader working three days a week in a local school, because I strongly believe it's important that children get to play and learn in a natural setting, for the benefit of all our relations. 

In the rest of work life I offer a mix of training, team development and retreats for adults with my wonderful partner Pam Horton (check out her website here if you are interested), camps for families, storytelling and didgeridoo workshops in schools too. I live and work on an organic smallholding in East Devon, with a wild swimming pond, amazing birdlife and where my landlord rent out Yurts for people to come and stay in - drop me a line if you are interested to come and stay - or visit their Insta page here

In connection, Chris