Wild About Brain Health: a year in nature for healthier minds

Across twelve months, ninety-four people joined us in our reserves to pond-dip, build shelters, identify trees, lay dead-hedges and learn what nature can do for the brain. Here is what we discovered together — and where this work goes next.
By Harriet Palin, Lisa Baldini & John Hayton

There is a quietly hopeful piece of science behind everything we did this year. According to the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, around forty-five per cent of dementia cases worldwide could be prevented or delayed by addressing fourteen modifiable lifestyle and health factors — among them physical inactivity, social isolation, hearing loss, depression, and high blood pressure. Almost all of these things are made better by getting outside, moving, and spending time with other people.

That hopeful idea is the foundation of Wild About Brain Health, a programme of nature-based workshops we have delivered at Durham Wildlife Trust over the past year, generously funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Inspire Fund. Drawing on Alzheimer’s Research UK’s wider Think Brain Health campaign, we built the programme around three simple, science-backed ideas: that what is good for the heart is good for the brain, that cognitive challenge and novelty build resilience, and that strong social connection is one of the most powerful protective factors of all.

Across thirteen sessions, between June 2025 and April 2026, we set out to do three things: get people moving, get people thinking, and get people talking to each other — in the woods, in meadows, around ponds, and beside a small fire.

Heart, head, and the company you keep

We themed our year around three pillars of brain health, turning science into hands-on fun:

Heart: Because what’s good for your pulse is great for your brain.
Brain: Because learning a new skill (like identifying a tricky fungus!) builds mental resilience.
Social: Because a chat over a campfire is one of the best ways to beat isolation.

Our calendar was packed! We went from summer pond-dipping to autumn fungi foraging, and from building cosy shelters in the rain to constructing 'dead-hedges' in the February frost. We even finished the year by getting stuck into some 'wild gardening', building a beautiful rain garden from scratch.

A small fish with a silvery-brown body and blue eye floats in a clear plastic container of water. The fish has a reddish tint near its gills, and a few bits of plant debris drift around it. The container rests on a rough wooden surface, suggesting it’s part of a pond or stream sampling activity.

A male three-spined stickleback in breeding colours, found during the pond-dipping session in June.

A small brown newt with a darker stripe along its back rests on a damp forest floor. It’s surrounded by wet leaves, twigs, moss, and rich soil, highlighting its natural woodland habitat.

A smooth newt found beneath a log during the minibeast hunt at Rainton Meadows.

People surprised themselves. A blindfolded walk through woodland, holding a rope, listening for the person ahead, sounds modest written down. In practice it is a quiet revelation — about trust, about the senses we usually underuse, and about how much of a place we can know with our eyes shut.

Three people walk through a dense woodland area, following a rope strung between moss-covered trees. The ground is earthy and scattered with fallen branches, while sunlight filters through the green canopy above. The group appears to be taking part in a guided outdoor or sensory activity among the trees.

What people said

We collected feedback after every session. Some of it told us the obvious — the sessions were rated nine or ten out of ten more or less universally, and almost everyone said they would return. But the parts we found most useful were the things people wrote in their own words, often about themselves.

“All the sessions were relevant to understanding brain health while enjoying the activities and having the social contact with others.”

— Wild About Brain Health participant, summer 2025

“The activities outdoors and social interaction, especially during the dead-hedge building, really lifted my spirits.”

— Wild About Brain Health participant, February 2026

“The sessions were particularly helpful in the winter months and really helped my mental health.”

— Wild About Brain Health participant, winter 2025–26

And one written reflection captured the spirit of what participants had taken from the programme more fully than any of our evaluation forms:

“Brain health, like general health, requires more promotion due to the negative impact on a person’s brain, cognitive abilities, friends, family and wider society.”

— Wild About Brain Health participant, on what they had learned

Several people walk through a sunlit woodland of slender, leafless trees. The bright morning sun shines through the branches, casting long shadows across the grassy ground. One person is in the foreground on the left, while others are scattered deeper into the trees, enjoying the crisp, clear day.

What changed for people

Beyond the in-session enjoyment, participants told us about changes that lasted past the sessions themselves. More walking in the week. More confidence to be active outdoors, particularly among older or socially isolated attendees. New hobbies picked up — birdwatching, identification, craft tasks, joining local walking groups. Several attendees exchanged phone numbers and started meeting independently between our sessions.

One participant, after the April rain-garden session, said it best:

“That was a really great session — I’m going to go home and build one of those, and I’m going to tell my friend about this. It’s so good!”

— Wild About Brain Health participant, April 2026

The year in numbers

sessions delivered, across all four seasons

unique participants engaged across the year

9–10

average interest rating, out of ten, across sessions

40%

of dementia cases linked to modifiable risk factors (Lancet Commission)

The conservation side of it

One of the things that mattered most to participants, we think, was that the work was real. The bird boxes built in February are now installed on a Trust reserve. The dead-hedge made in the depth of winter is still there, slumping gently into its purpose: a low, thorny corridor of habitat for nesting birds, hibernation refuge for hedgehogs, somewhere small mammals can move through the landscape unseen. People wanted to feel useful, and they were useful.

A long line of stacked branches and twigs forms a natural barrier or habitat pile on grassy ground. The wood varies in size and texture, with moss and small twigs still attached. The surrounding area is an open field with dry vegetation, suggesting woodland management or conservation work.

As one participant said, the reward of these tasks was the feeling of “being outdoors, meeting people, being useful, switching off from life”. All four of those things, separately and together, support good brain health — and they are, increasingly, what the wider evidence on nature and wellbeing tells us our communities most need.

We are now seeking follow-on funding to continue and expand the programme. The aim is a seasonal cycle of brain-health sessions, year-round, with a developing volunteer Brain Health Champions network so the work can spread laterally. The model is proven. The community demand is plain. We would like very much to keep going.

Help shape dementia care in County Durham

If this work resonates with you, there is something practical and immediate you can do.

NHS North East and North Cumbria, working with Durham County Council, is currently running an engagement project called Preventing Well, asking people across the county to help shape the next steps of the Local Dementia Action Plan. Their work is closely aligned with everything we have learned from Wild About Brain Health: prevention, early intervention, and improving quality of life for people living with dementia and their families.

They want to hear from anyone with experience of dementia — whether you have attended our sessions, cared for someone living with dementia, work in the field, or simply want to add your voice to a conversation that will affect future services in your community.

OPEN UNTIL 17 JUNE 2026

Share your experience at letstalkcountydurham.co.uk