It’s my last day in a huge hole in the ground – I’ve got to climb out of it for the last time as a member of staff. It’s sad because it’s an amazing place to work. You can’t help but be inspired by the toil of the people who built it. Those people whose physical work shifted tonnes and tonnes of china clay, rubble and miscellaneous industrial waste to make it useable. The ones who planted every inch of it with amazing, brilliant plants and those whose vision it was to turn a scarred post-industrial landscape into something so stunningly beautiful are all to be applauded.

The week has been strange. I’ve worked with children of every age range from tiny tots to A level students, there have even been some adult learners. They’ve come here from all parts of the country so I’ve seen a colourful mix of young life working on different workshops. The work has been designed to make the participants think about how deeply connected we all are to rainforests and to encourage them to think about the consequences of its loss. I’d say that this is a truly worthy cause.

Sadly though, I feel a bit down in the mouth because I spent the whole week feeling useless and just when I was starting to feel like I was making a valuable contribution I was yanked out of the job and am now being sent back onto campus for two more weeks.