writing – Wild Fen

Tree Guides for Slowing Down

October 14, 2026October 14, 2026 Wild Fen

Hello Wild Soul,

As the first touches of cold have begun creeping into our mornings, I have felt that familiar pull toward earlier nights, cosier evenings and more rest. I am curious to know, if you have felt this too?

I find that there is an exciting energy about Autumn too, the vivid colours, the comforting meals, the joy of gathering treasure and creating new routines and rituals as we move into darker evenings. A reset.

We have found ourselves out for sunrise a couple of times this week, and are also noticing that it is dark early enough to be mesmerised by the night sky again. Two of my favourite things that this season brings with ease.

In today’s post I wanted to share some of my favourite tree guides to work with to support us in slowing down and inviting more peace and calm into our days as we ground into the Autumn.

Let’s dive in!

Tree Guides for Slowing Down

There is not much that beats a cosy Autumnal walk through a Pine forest. The vast height and refreshing scent of these charismatic trees encourages us to look up, drop our shoulders and take a deep breath of fresh air.

Being in their presence can help us to move from our busy minds and into the present moment to experience reality with a fresh outlook and a calmer being.

Whether you gather some Pine cones on a walk or burn some Pine oil or incense, connecting with this grand tree can guide our busy minds to slow down.

Holly trees hold strong associations to the dark half of the year where their glossy evergreen leaves, and bright red berries bring a comforting glow to the woodland.

Hollys are masters of growing slowly and patiently in the understory, waiting until space opens up for them to expand. They are wonderful guides in patience, taking our time and trusting in the timing of our own lives.

The next time to you see a Holly tree, take a few breaths and see what you notice about them.

Known as the ‘Mother’ of the woods, the dense canopy and wide branches of the Beech tree protects and shelters those around them.

Their heart nurturing green canopies turn mesmerising shades of bronze and rust in the Autumn. Watch for stray leaves gliding down to earth in the breeze, as they are keen to offer us a mindful moment in our day.

The Lime or Linden tree can be characterised by their heart-shaped leaves. In herbal medicine, the blossom has long been called upon to soothe tension, stress and headaches and gently encourages the body to unwind into a deep sleep.

The Lime tree soothes, calms and offers the most generous support in times of worry.

The graceful branches of the Willow tree hang above the water’s edge where they can always be found encouraging us to talk the time to rest and reflect.

Their gentle energy guides us in allowing things to flow rather than forcing or rushing outcomes.

Field Maple are such a staple in the landscape that they can often be overlooked, however when Autumn arrives, they lead the transformation, into the most gorgeous golden yellows that scatter beneath our feet.

These humble trees grow throughout our towns, cities and countryside reminding us that there is beauty hiding in the mundane.

These trees have been inspiring our making this week so keep an eye on your inbox for a first glimpse of some new pieces coming soon!

Wild Fen Updates

We have enjoyed some great markets and fayres so far this month. Thank you if you have come along to see us!

Here is where you can find us next…

Currently in Store

We have a beautiful selection of moon pendants currently in store and you can enter the code WILDTEN at the checkout for 10% off this week.

Alternatively click the link below and the discount will be added straight to your basket.

Wishing you all a little extra magic this week,

With love,

Nic x

Products, Updates

A Rowan Collection & Autumn Updates

September 25, 2026September 25, 2026 Wild Fen

Hello Wild Soul,

We have just got back from a wonderful visit to the New Forest, where we were dropping off a collection of wild jewellery and prints to an art gallery for our very first exhibition!

Chalk’s is a beautifully curated craft & art gallery in Lymington and we feel very excited to have some pieces featured in their upcoming exhibition ‘Wonderland’ which will run from 2nd October until 30th January.

Here is a sneak peak of some of the pieces that we created especially for the exhibition.

The collection focuses on telling the stories of 10 different trees by celebrating unique features and markings that emerge from windfallen wood.

These pieces will be available to view and buy from the gallery during the exhibition and online via the Chalk’s website.

Rowan Collection

In my last post, I shared that we had been feeling the call to work with the Rowan tree after a late Summer visit to Northumberland.

Here, the Rowan trees felt in their element, growing proudly atop mountain and moor.

These vibrant trees have the ability to not only survive but thrive in some of our most challenging landscapes where other trees simply cannot grow.

The Rowan tree can teach us much about resilience and the ability to nourish ourselves even and especially during challenging times.

Despite their wild sparks, Rowan trees often grow rather uniformly and considered. Unlike some of their sprawling relatives who shed branches more regularly, finding wood that has naturally fallen from these magical trees is relatively rare in our experience.

And so we were especially excited to be guided to a piece earlier this year!

Here is a sneak peak of a few pieces from our Rowan Collection, which will be in store this Sunday 27th September at 7pm.

The growth rings are such a prominent feature in this collection and we just love how they have emerged!

Our Rowan Collection will be in store this Sunday 27th September at 7pm.

Events

We have some wonderful markets coming up in October and we will be creating a special Samhain pendant collection to bring with us.

Here is where we will be:

I will write again on Sunday, when I will be sharing the full Rowan collection with you first,

Wishing you all a little Autumn magic this weekend,

Nic x

The magic of Rowan

Life

Life on the road

July 15, 2026July 15, 2026 Wild Fen

Hello Wild Soul,

It has been 2 weeks since we left the land that we had been living on these past 4 years, so I thought I would write a bit of an update as to how we are getting on so far…

Transporting trees to temporary homes with family

We were pretty exhausted, after a month of clearing out and uprooting our lives in the middle of a heatwave.

We spent the first couple of days letting ourselves recover with some gentle walks and plenty of rest in our favourite local nature reserves.

It felt restorative to move unhurried for the first time in weeks, to sit and watch wildlife, soak in the shade of the trees and find some quite spots in the countryside where we spent our first few nights.

We are enjoying seeing so many butterflies, including this lovely Comma

We had the weekend off from any markets last week so we headed to the South coast to visit my sister. We swam in the sea and ate ice cream with family.

We travelled onwards to Glastonbury, to one of our favourite resting places; the Chalice Well gardens where we spent a peaceful day soaking achey feet in the magical waters, and dozing beneath a beautiful Birch tree.

We explored a bit more of Somerset, visiting Burrow Mump, an interesting natural hill that falls along the St Michael’s ley line that is also thought to run beneath Glastonbury Tor.

We returned to a weekend of events in Northamptonshire, where we had lots of inspiring conversations which always seems to fuel us.

Wild Fen Updates & Events

This week, we are putting Chris’ work shed up in a temporary home which is exciting as he can’t wait to get back to making after a 2 week break.

We were gifted a beautiful piece of Blackthorn from the hedgerow this week so will be drying it ready to work with at Samhain hopefully…

We do hope to find a more permanent space for ourselves in the future, but in the meantime will be enjoying a little more of a nomadic life until we find a place that resonates.

We have some exciting events coming up too. We will be in Upwell this Sunday and then on to Sherwood Forest at the end of the month before returning to the Suffolk Witchcraft Market for Lammas.

We will be working on a very special Wild Jewellery collection over the coming weeks, and you will be the first to find out more soon…

Wishing you a little extra magic this week,

Nic x

Trees

Oak Wild Jewellery Collection

June 19, 2026June 20, 2026 Wild Fen

Hello Wild Soul,

I just wanted to tell you a little more about our collection of Oak pendants that will be in store a little later today, Saturday 20th June at 10am.

Do you see the ‘star’ in the centre of this piece?

As I mentioned in our previous post, we have felt so drawn to the stable and grounding energy of the iconic Oak tree in the run up to the Summer Solstice. It feels like the perfect tree ally to work with at a time that can often be filled with intensity, heat and movement.

We have created 5 pieces smoothed from an ancient piece of bone Oak, and I wanted to share a little more with you about what exactly bone Oak is. Let’s dive in…

What is bone Oak?

Oak is known to be one of the strongest and most durable woods in the world, and sometimes they go through processes which make them even stronger.

There is a natural survival strategy that ancient Oak trees will sometimes adopt called ‘retrenchment’. This is where a tree will withdraw their energy from their higher branches, drawing it back down to ensure they nourish the branches closest to their core.

This is the opposite process to when a younger tree is prioritising the growth of its higher branches, expanding out into the world.

You may cross paths with one of these wise old trees and notice old, bare branches that protrude from the top of their canopies. They are sometimes described as ‘stag heads’.

Notice the ‘stag head’ branches on the tree on the right

These special trees remind me that we cannot always pour our energy into everything all at once, and that sometimes, to preserve our energy and maintain our strength, we may need to shed parts of ourselves.

But what has this got to do with bone Oak, I hear you ask? Well, when the outer sapwood of these higher branches dry out through weathering, you are left with the inner heartwood of the tree, which has become ‘as hard as bone’ earning it the name ‘bone Oak’.

We felt very lucky to come across a recently fallen branch of bone Oak and have worked with it to create these pieces. You will notice the deep colour and stunning grains and markings that have evolved in the wood over many years.

We have worked with the wood in different ways for these pieces. We felt called to shape two of them to nestle perfectly into the palm…

We also wanted to celebrate the natural form of the bone Oak, highlighting the indents where the sapwood has worn away and left the inner heartwood. It reminds me that the processes of weathering and change can ignite inner strength…

We hope you love them as much as we have crafting them (we of course made two for ourselves and haven’t taken them off since!)

I hope you all find an Oak to greet this midsummer,

Nic x

Catch up with…

The Summer Solstice and the Oak tree

Find out more about our Wild Jewellery here:

Jewellery

Life, Wheel of the Year, Wild Jewellery

The Summer Solstice and the Oak tree

June 18, 2026June 18, 2026 Wild Fen

Hello Wild Soul,

A lot has been shifting for us since I sent my last newsletter. We are currently getting ready to leave the land which we have been tending to over the past 4 years.

Whilst this wasn’t part of our immediate life plan, the universe seemed to have other ideas and gave us a pretty big nudge to reconsider our life.

At this time of the year especially, it is a hive of activity here, with Swallows, Robins, Dunnocks and Pied Wagtails all raising their young. Goldfinches visit daily to feed on all the seedheads that we leave in their honour, and bees are busy foraging in the clover rich meadow area.

It feels extremely sad to say goodbye to them, but it does bring us some comfort knowing that the land here will remain wild, and that the plants and trees we have nurtured will continue to grow and support the wildlife here.

As for us, we will be moving back into the unknown, for a while at least, but we are excited to see where where we land next. I will keep you updated…

Oak, the tree of Strength and Stability

Whenever life feels unsettled or uncertain such as this, Oak is the tree that I reach to. Often called the king of the forest, Oaks have one of the strongest woods in the world. It is easy to see why they have become a symbol of strength and stability the world over.

Oak trees can live for around 900 – 1000 years and during that time bring stability to the surrounding environment. They provide habitats that support over 2000 different species that nest, shelter and feed within their branches.

It is said, that over the typical lifespan of an Oak tree they spend around 300 years growing, 300 years living/thriving and 300 years dying. And even once an Oak tree has died, their dead wood continues to support life, sometimes even more biodiversity than when they were alive!

Oak and the Summer Solstice

As the heat intensifies at this time of the year, the shade of an Oak tree becomes a very welcomed sight. Sitting beneath an Oak at Midsummer is an enriching experience. You can feel them in their element, buzzing with life, vivid green and growing their acorns, a symbol of fertility and abundance.

Oak Wild Jewellery Collection

As the tree most closely associated with the Summer Solstice, it may come as no surprise, that we have felt called to work with Oak this past couple of weeks.

Here is a sneak peak of some of the stunning patterns to be found in bone Oak, the hard as bone inner heartwood of a windfallen Oak branch we were lucky to discover.

This piece is yet to have its final sand and be oiled so expect the colours to really pop in the finished piece…

We will have 5 bone Oak pendants in store on Saturday 20th June at 10am. I will send out a reminder on Saturday morning, with a first glimpse the finished pieces too….

Solstice Shop Updates

To celebrate the Solstice, we have had our BIGGEST shop update of the year. You will find a seasonal selection of moon pendants and woodland slices that are now in store!

As subscribers, you will receive 20% off any of these pieces now in store. Click on the link below to add the discount to your basket or apply the discount code LITHA20 at the checkout.

Wishing you all a little Solstice magic this week, Nic x

P.s, you may also enjoy:

A Guide to Litha – the Summer Solstice

Litha is coming

A Tale of Two Kings

Midsummer Smoulder Sticks

The Magic of Oak

Life

How did we end up here?

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026 Wild Fen

Hello again Wild Soul.

As it is coming up to 6 years since we first created Wild Fen, I thought it may be a good time to take a trip down memory lane on quite how we arrived here.

In 2019, we were living together in the Fens, and spent our spare time exploring the land around us; watching wildlife, learning about wild plants, foraging and generally immersing ourselves in nature as often as was possible.

Chris was working as a landscape gardener after a 10 year period as a self-taught graphic designer. I was working for a mental health charity, where I supported individuals and groups with their wellbeing. I particularly loved running mindfulness workshops and getting outdoors with people, where I often witnessed their stress levels reduce and their perspective shift or open.

About a year in to our life in the Fens, Chris became really unwell with what was eventually diagnosed as glandular fever, with viral and bacterial tonsillitis. He ended up in hospital unable to eat or drink, struggling to fight the virus and infections. He was off work for about 2 months in total and during these uncertain times, we found ourselves reflecting on our life.

We talked about how much we wanted to travel and to spend more time in nature. We both had the urge to create ‘something’, although what that ‘something’ was, was unclear.

Looking back, his illness was like a catalyst that picked up many of our ‘far off’ dreams and plonked them right at our table to look at more seriously.

A few months later and after much soul searching, we found ourselves pushing send on our resignation emails and giving one month’s notice for leaving our home. Fear and excitement being experienced in equal measure.

It felt wild, reckless in the eyes of some and yet a fire had been lit in us both, to try something different. To take a ‘leap’. We sold our belongings, temporarily moved in with family and set about our search for a van that we could convert into a tiny home.

Wild Fen did not arrive with a clear vision and instead grew the more that we listened and tended to the soil of our lives. It grew from a deepening connection to the land around us and a desire to share that with others.

It grew alongside the herbs that I tended in my Mum’s garden, and wove into smoulder sticks that I made as a gift to family at Christmas, and later shared online just incase anyone may want one.

And over time it has expanded like a network of roots making their way through the earth. The more time that we spend on the land, the more we noticed, observed and felt guided by the wild world around us.

Running a small business has not been without its challenges, and whilst there are aspects of life that feel idyllic, there are plenty that feel overwhelming, uncertain and demotivating at times too.

But we are here, and have thus far at least, found our way around the challenges, just like tree roots pass around the unmoveable rocks hidden within the soil.

If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy catching up with our journey a little more:

A small business and van living

A Reflection on Van Life

Land Update – A Space to Grow

With love,

Nic x