PUPILS at a Cwmbran primary school were the first children in Wales to explore a new outdoor activity trail at Greenmeadow Community Farm centred on a popular book character.

Based on the popular Stick Man characters from Gruffalo author and illustrators Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, the trail takes children on a tour of the farm and encourages them to explore the natural world around them.

Students from Llantarnam Community Primary School visited the farm to try out the self-guided route, which features brightly coloured boards featuring Stick Man and other characters from the picture book.

Sally Partridge, Greenmeadow Community Farm’s manager said: “We’re really happy to be the first community farm in Wales to host this trail.

“We’re expecting a great deal of interest from regular visitors to the farm and hopefully some new visitors, who’ll appreciate and support the work we do at the farm.”

Cllr Alan Jones, executive member with responsibility for leisure, said: “Stick Man is extremely popular with young children and the children from Llantarnam school who got a first look at the trail all had a fantastic time exploring the woodland areas of the farm.

“We hope that this trail will be popular with regular visitors to the farm and encourage those who may not have visited before to discover it for the first time.”

The farm was chosen as the first venue in Wales to launch the outdoor trail, as part of a pilot scheme devised for community farms and gardens across the UK, thanks to the support of Stick Man brand owner Magic Light Pictures.

The initiative is part of a UK-wide campaign called Local Heroes, which aims to get more people involved with their local community growing groups, such as city farms, community gardens, therapy gardens and community orchards.

Heidi Seary, project manager of the Growing Together partnership which is leading the campaign, said: “We hope that hundreds of young children and families will be inspired to go on their own outdoor adventure with Stick Man, where they can have fun, as well as learn more about the natural world and how things grow.

“This new Stick Man trail will provide children, particularly those who have little access to the countryside, with an opportunity to play and learn outdoors, at the same time as raising the profile of local community growing groups, which help make local neighbourhoods better, healthier and friendlier places.”

Daryl Shute, brand director at Magic Light Pictures, said: “Encouraging exploration and learning about nature are core values for the Stick Man brand so we are really excited to bring these trails into a new, urban setting and reach a wider audience.”