I went to a great morning last week hosted by Urban Vision North Staffordshire and Burslem Park, which is just over the road from our office at Port Vale Football Club in Stoke-on-Trent. As well as being the first long-awaited hot morning of the year, it was a useful opportunity for reflection about the kinds of learning spaces we can use this summer and I thought I'd share some of the ideas from it.

For outdoor activities in parks you'd need to do a risk assessment of the activities, checking routes and considering any risks to learners and alternatives if people have mobility issues. In Stoke, the council expect an event pack to be filled in for organised activities. In neither case should this put you off as the parks are wonderful natural resources and of course free venues. Have a chat with the park wardens or whoever deals with the park at the council and find out what their procedures are and what else they can offer: for example Burslem Park can lend individuals or groups tennis rackets for use on the courts.

Here are a few things that we considered while walking around the park:

- Where are the sheltered areas in case it rains? Burslem Park, for example, has a number of gazebos which are grandly called pagodas. As they are a little derelict, they easily go unnoticed. Our workshop was looking in detail at one of them and thinking about how, with a simple box of materials housed in the park, we could decorate them to become glorious grottoes for a picnic. This helps groups take ownership of a space which could otherwise look a little unwelcoming in its Victorian colours. Some sort of shelter is always necessary, but it's also a good idea to have a backup plan in case the weather turns particularly unpleasant and cold, or just a place to recommend for a cup of tea afterwards.

- What are the spaces? We often focus on the 'features' of a park, but think about the spaces inbetween the trees and buildings. Which spaces are flat and tarmaced for exercise? Where could a group comfortably sit without too much noise from nearby roads?

- What learning resources are within the park? We uncovered some wonderful scope for cultural studies courses by discussing the Latin roots of a simple flower like a daisy and the multi-cultural influences of the Victorian park designers. There also may be a lot of other groups using the park, for example for bowling or gardening. They may be interested in sharing more about what they do with your group. 

- How can you recreate the past? We have a costumers in Burslem who has lent clothes for art classes. We also talked about a lost and much missed aviary and, with the aforementioned box of materials, began to make birds to decorate the space where it used to be. Another aspect that helps here is that Burslem Park happens to have been featured in at least one of Arnold Bennett's books. You might not have such good luck, but you probably have older people nearby who can talk about their memories of the park as a child and there may be archive footage or documents available online.

- what are the access issues? In particular, ensure that there are routes to your spaces for people in wheelchairs, that they are safe and that people won't have to walk too far. The risk assessment is a good opportunity to think about these issues in advance, but you should still ask members of your group to say something if they have may other problems and be ready to make adjustments if necessary to ensure everyone can be included.

- how else can you use these green spaces? Parks can sometimes be very quiet except on very sunny days. This can lead to a perception that they are unsafe. The more people use them and invite others for a walk or meeting, the more these barriers will be broken down. I also hadn't realised that parks, just like museums and galleries, collect useage figures, which in turn influence how much money is spent on them. It's little things like that which can lead to interesting community involvement-related discussions.

So make the most of these treasures in our urban areas and enjoy them while the sun is out!

Update: there's more! Thanks to @janetedavis who sent this really useful link: www.parksandgardens.ac.uk