Natural England - Green Exercise

Green Exercise

Natural England is funding eight demonstration Green Exercise projects through local partnerships around the regions. Their main aim is to increase levels of physical activity and people's connections to their local green spaces.

Fun in mud

What is Green Exercise?

Green Exercise is any informal physical activity that takes place outdoors: from gardening, cycling and walking in urban green areas, to kite flying and conservation projects in the countryside.

The aim is to connect people to nature in their local areas and it is one of the most cost-effective ways of improving the nation's physical and mental wellbeing.

Engaging and inspiring people from all walks of life

A typical Green Exercise project is the 'Youth Outdoor Experience' in the East of England region. The project aims to engage and inspire young people through regular outdoor sessions of inspiring and fun activities over a 12-week period. It also aims to increase self awareness and confidence, to benefit wellbeing as well as learning new skills and understanding more about their local environment.

Tasks range from practical conservation, like scrub bashing and coppicing, to environmental art, camp building and outdoor cooking, with responsibility directed towards the youngsters to make decisions about the direction they want to go as a group as the project progresses.

Evaluating success

Evaluation is essential if this programme is to lead to adoption of Green Exercise more widely. Each project will complete its own evaluation, alongside an evaluation of the programme as a whole by our Evidence team.

We will evaluate areas such as diversity achieved, access and connections to greenspace, as well as the achievement of targets for each project. This will lead to best-practice advice on costs and delivery, with an emphasis on case studies and statistics.

Find out more

Read about our eight Green Exercise demonstration projects and find out what's happening in your region.

For more information, please contact Jenny Parsons, Green Exercise Coordinator at jennifer.parsons@naturalengland.org.uk.

Select a region