Winner of Grow with the Show: Nurture Nature Forest School! 10 May

Grow with the Show returned once again this year welcoming new businesses to apply. The competition is open to young entrepreneurs aged 18-35 years old and aims to help Lincolnshire start-ups by giving them the platform and tools required to excel in the early stages of becoming a business owner.

It is open to businesses under three-years old and offers the winners a chance to have their own exhibition stand at The Lincolnshire Show. This year the competition was supported by Lincolnshire Agricultural Society, Ruddocks, Optima Graphic Design, Sparkhouse and The University of Lincoln.

The shortlisted businesses were invited to a judging day at the Lincolnshire Showground to pitch their business to the panel and we can now announce the winner of this year’s Grow with the Show Competition is … Nurture Nature Forest School.

Founded by Jennifer Wakefield in 2022, Nurture Nature Forest School inspires a deep and meaningful connection to the natural world through the Forest School process of play, exploring and supported risk taking. Based in North East Lincolnshire, also covering North Lincolnshire and East Lindsey, offering a range of Forest School sessions for families, home-schooling groups, Nurseries, Schools, and Special Schools.

Forest School research suggests that teaching children from a young age to engage with the outside world can make them more resilient, have greater self-esteem and become more engaged learners and following market research, Jennifer realised there was no other organisation offering these services within a 30-40 mile radius.

Jennifer said: "Winning Grow with the Show 2023 for the Lincolnshire Show means more than I can say! To be recognised in this way so early into my business journey is just so humbling and I just want to thank everyone on the panel for this opportunity. Being at the show and being opened up to the wider Lincolnshire area is where we want and need to be, and this opportunity allows us to showcase what we offer to them".

Jennifer added: “We will run a series of forest school activities through the day at the Lincolnshire Show. We will have a different zone for each activity: den building & learning knots, tool use (progression of skills) and then a nature crafts area.

“I’ll be advertising the sessions that we offer not just to families, home-educating groups, and family forest school sessions but also our more formal school and nursery sessions too. I hope reaching out to wider Lincolnshire will enable us to get our message out further afield.”

Nature Nurture Forest School also receives a £250 cash prize, expert mentoring from Sparkhouse, a complimentary digital marketing session or SEO consultation from Optima Graphic Design, and POS Material to the value of £300 from Ruddocks.

The runner up of Grow with the Show was Lincolnshire based start-up, My Square Meter, who plant new areas of wildflower meadow & increase the biodiversity on the land. The business will receive £100 and two society guest badges providing them free admission to the Lincolnshire Show with exclusive access to the members’ area.

Ed Crowther, My Square Meter owner, said: "Signing up to Grow With the show was so simple, and it’s easy to think that you might slip through the net or won’t get noticed but we got runner up with an amazing prize of £100. We are still going to be at the Show and the prize money is going on making our stand even better. It’s a really good thing to be part of especially for start-up businesses!"