The Whitstable Seaside Guide launches this week

Hello everyone, I’m really excited to let you know that we’ve published our second book, it’s small, handy and perfect for little ones to chuck in their rucksacks or coat pockets. It’s the eco-friendly Whitstable Seaside Guide and it is available this week!

The Horsebridge Arts Centre got in touch with me earlier this year to see if I would be interested in supporting them deliver the project. They wanted to create an interactive exhibition, run workshops and deliver an affordable and fun mini book for kids. Well we did it, the target price of £1.00 has been achieved, and the exhibition was a great success see the photos below.

The time seemed right to create a action-orientated book about Kent’s local wildlife and how we can preserve it. Recently environmental consciousness has rebounded, and it’s no longer the preserve of those that wear beanies and cycle to work, its going mainstream thanks the huge media coverage generated by the Extinction Rebellion protests, plus the popularity of Surfers Against Sewage and the #2minutebeachclean. Being into cooking, and all things food, one of our favourite pop activists right now is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. We loved the work he has done regarding the Fish Fight, Food Waste and now his War on Plastic.

The Whitstable Seaside Guide is interactive, fun and informative. Children are helped by Daisy the Diver to find and learn more about the more common plants and creatures that live on Kent’s beaches including very rare animals like the Fisher’s estuarine moth. Each species included in the guide features a line drawing to help with identification, each drawing can be coloured in when the plant or animal has been located using the included map.

The Whitstable Seaside Guide is printed using sustainable paper and ink and is exclusively available for £1.00 in The Horsebridge Arts Centre Shop. Budding conservationists and artists are encouraged to learn more about the local flora and fauna, art therapy and ultimately mindfulness through the book. All proceeds generated from its sale will be re-invested by The Horsebridge into its programme of community arts projects. I’d also like to take a quick moment to thank our project sponsors The Cleary Foundation and Brett Aggregates, without their help, none of it would have been possible.