What is Mud & Bloom

Mud & Bloom connects children with nature. Our monthly subscription box delivers seasonal nature craft, gardening, foraging, and nature spotting activities to your door. Each box contains everything you need for hours of fun with your children discovering plants, insects, birds, soil, the seasons and weather!

What do I get?

Each box promises instant quality time with your children regardless of your own knowledge and experience of gardening and nature. We provide easy to follow instructions as well as pretty much everything you need to get started growing and enjoying nature right away - no spending your precious time hunting for materials in shops when you could be outside!

Who is Mud & Bloom aimed at?

Our activities are created by qualified teachers with 3-8 year olds in mind but are enjoyed by children and adults of all ages! We've sent over a quarter of a million boxes of gardening and nature craft activities out since we started and we get great feedback. Our activities support the national curriculum with influence from Forest School, Steiner and Montessori education, but above all they foster a love of nature in the people who receive them.

Will I have to hunt around for lots of equipment?

No. Our craft activities are designed to get children out finding and using objects from nature - all can be found on a short walk to your garden or local park. You may occasionally need things from your recycling box, such as old jam jars. You'll need something to plant seeds in - but if you haven't got pots, an old egg carton, or small yogurt pot with a hole in the bottom will do - and that's it! We even provide the compost to get you started! Be warned though: some of our subscribers have become overrun with plants as their interest has developed!

What sort of company are you?

We want children and their parents to enjoy spending time in nature. We encourage respect for nature but we also encourage rummaging around in it: touching and smelling, picking flowers and engaging the senses - that's how children learn and connect. We believe children who develop a bond with the natural world will want to look after it in the future. We use plastic-free materials and packaging wherever possible. All our boxes and contents are recyclable. We use certified organic and biodynamic seeds wherever we can and organic peat-free compost pellets. Our box contents are prepared and packed in and around Bristol by people earning at least the Real Living Wage.

Who's idea was this?

Anja ffrench started Mud & Bloom from her kitchen table three years ago because, despite living in the city, she loved spending time out and about with her three children in nature. She saw first hand when she took her own children out the improvements to their mental and physical health and concentration which scientists talk about all the time. So Anja set out to create something to make gardening and nature more accessible to busy parents like her, regardless of where they lived.

Anja is assisted by a great team of creative people who design, try out, write, illustrate, package up and deliver your Mud & Bloom box each month.