IT was in the Falls Park that Gráinne Holland first fell under the spell of trees. The park was at the bottom of her street when she was growing up and she felt a special connection with it each time she visited.

“I remember being a lot happier among the trees and in nature,” she said this week.

“We spent so much time in the Falls Park when we were young, and in Milltown and City cemeteries. There are a lot more trees in the City Cemetery. But there were a couple of trees in the Falls Park that I really liked.

“Then my father took me and my two sisters to Tollymore Forest. It was a special place and you only get that feeling in a place as beautiful as Tollymore.”

Other family holidays to Donegal and Ballyhornan confirmed to Gráinne that she was a country girl at heart  and so it's no surprise that she decided to raise her own family in the Mournes.

Along with husband Frainc – a local man steeped in Mournes lore – and children Naoise (9) and Síomha (7), she spends as much time as possible in the countryside. And that has led to the family's exciting new adventure – a year-long series of TV programmes called Scoil Choille (Forest School).

It consists of 12 episodes – three for each season of the year – and they were recorded deep inside Tollymore Forest. 

“The winter episodes were the hardest,” Gráinne admits, “because filming takes time. I had to promise the kids a new Lego toy if they stuck it to the end because we were all freezing as when you're filming you have to stay in the one place for a long time!

“The spring episodes have already been broadcast and the summer ones will be out in June.”

Scoil Choille taps into the popularity of Forest Schools, where children are allowed to enjoy the forest, learning about the plants and trees and even how to build a fire. Since the series was launched, Gráinne has taken pupils from local Irish language schools to the Mournes to have their own Scoil Choille, including her children's own school, Bunscoil Bheanna Bóirche in Castlewellan.

Gráinne says that outdoor learning is a lot more natural than learning in a classroom.

“It's amazing how well kids take to the woods,” she said. “I'm a worrier but my own kids climb trees and cross rivers and have even started climbing mountains and they're so much fitter than us! It's in a child's nature to do all those things. It's how they learned years ago.

“You see yourself as a parent what your children can do and what they can't. I wouldn't let them climb a high tree or anything like that. Where we live we can walk to Tollymore in five minutes. In lockdown we were so lucky we could do that and the children took to it quickly.”

Gráinne says she's had great feedback about the first three TV programmes and is looking forward to the rest being released on Foghlaim TG4 as the seasons continue throughout 2025 .

“All the kids we had out on the Forest Schools had watched it in their classes and enjoyed it,” she said.

Like so many others, Gráinne’s concerned that so little of Ireland remains native forest. She researched the subject while pitching for programme about how our native forests have vanished.

“Just 0.02 per cent of Irish land is ancient native forest,  all the rest have been destroyed along with their ecosystems. It's sad that most children will never see one.

“I visited several while doing the research. There’s a beautiful one in Fermanagh and it's incredible the sheer variety of flowers and trees in a native forest. Today most Irish forests consist of Sitka spruce and other plantation trees which aren't native. You can't compare the two at all.”

It's amazing how exposure to nature at a young age can have such a tranformative effect on people. It certainly did for Gráinne and now she's helping so many more children get that chance.

Maith thú!

• If you've seen or photographed anything interesting or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.