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Access to Nature: Learning Papers

Access to Nature is a grants scheme within the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces, which was created to help communities enjoy and improve their natural environments. The 115 projects supported by this scheme encourage people who have little or no experience of the natural environment to benefit from the outdoors.

The evaluation process for the programme has the overall purpose of gathering learning and assessing progress in achieving the Access to Nature outcomes. It is a formative approach, where the evaluation is ongoing and feeds back into management and planning processes to inform future development of the programme.

In addition to annual reports and evaluation documents, a series of Learning Papers on cross-cutting themes are being produced over the lifetime of the programme. These draw on the experiences and self-evaluation of the projects. The papers highlight key learning which informs the work of projects and the work of other organisations interested in or committed to this kind of work.

The learning papers can be found in the downloads box immediately below, arranged in alphabetical sets with the most recent towards the top.

More papers will be produced as Access to Nature progresses and as we build on our learning to date.

Downloads available for this record

File Uploaded
Here to stay - building a legacy from Access to Nature, PDF, 3.2 MB 2014/09/15
Let Nature Feed Your Senses: Sensory-rich visits connecting people to nature and food, PDF, 4.8 MB 2014/03/06
A learning programme: How embedding evaluation has added value to Access to Nature, PDF, 4.4 MB 2013/11/18
A sense of ownership: Fostering a change in the relationship between people and the natural environment, PDF, 5.0 MB 2013/11/18
Greening the inner city: Green spaces and local people, PDF, 5.1 MB 2013/11/18
Learning together: Schools and the natural environment sector, PDF, 4.6 MB 2013/11/18
Changing young lives - Engaging NEET young people in the natural environment, PDF, 4.4 MB 2013/11/18
Free to explore - Connecting people with their local urban environment, PDF, 4.9 MB 2013/11/18
Making partnerships work - Partnerships at the heart of Access to Nature projects, PDF, 4.5 MB 2013/11/18
New directions - Organisations using the natural environment for the first time as a medium for working with their established client groups, PDF, 4.9 MB 2013/11/18
Seeing the wood for the trees - Woodlands as a tool for engaging people with the natural environment, PDF, 4.5 MB 2013/11/18
The Mosaic model - Engaging BME communities in National Parks, PDF, 4.6 MB 2013/11/18
A natural curiosity - good quality outdoor experiences are a valuable part of childrens development, PDF, 3.3 MB 2013/11/18
Best foot forward - the benefits of the natural environment for mental and physical health (Discovery Quest model), PDF, 5.8 MB 2013/05/29
Minority ethnic communities and the natural environment, PDF, 5.0 MB 2013/05/29
Volunteering in nature, PDF, 5.8 MB 2013/05/29