Tilefield Nature CIC, based near Brockenhurst in the New Forest, has been awarded £20,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund for its project Creating Space for Nature and Community.
The funding will help local people connect with nature through habitat creation, learning, volunteering, creative activities and wildlife recording. The two-year project will support wild pollinators while creating practical learning opportunities for people of all ages.
Founder Amanda Barton, who co-directs Tilefield Nature CIC with Vicks Ward, said the grant would allow the organisation to bring a number of ideas together into one coordinated local project. Many people care about nature, but everyday life has become increasingly disconnected from it. This funding gives Tilefield Nature the chance to create practical, welcoming ways for people to spend time outdoors, learn, notice what is around them and take part in something positive. Support for wildlife often begins with small, direct experiences, and this project gives those experiences a clear local focus.”
Work has already begun, with students from a local SEN group at Totton College and volunteers from the New Forest National Park Authority and CPRE Hampshire helping with the first practical stages of the project.
One of the first public events linked to the funded work will be Creative Countryside Day 2026, delivered alongside CPRE Hampshire on Saturday 22 August. The funding will help make the event affordable for families, with under-14s able to attend free of charge when booked in advance. The project also comes at a relevant time following the launch of the new Natural History GCSE, where fieldwork and direct experience of real habitats are expected to play an important role.
Amanda added: “Small places matter. Gardens, field margins, smallholdings and community spaces all help create the networks that wildlife needs.”
The funding has been made possible thanks to National Lottery players.
