Member Article

Local housebuilder installs Hedgehog Hotel to teach local children the importance of wildlife

29 children from local school, Skelmanthorpe Academy, visited David Wilson Homes’ The Paddocks development in the village last week to celebrate the opening of its new Hedgehog Hotel and learn about the importance of looking after wildlife with Hedgehog Highways. The housebuilder worked with the children to design a home for hegdehogs and invited them to The Paddocks to teach them about the Hedgehog Highways that will be installed there, which are part of David Wilson Homes’ continuous efforts to support the areas in which it builds.

After a competition that saw year 3, 4 and 5 classes work on designs for the new hedgehog house, Lilija Kukula, aged 9, has been named the winner with her Hedgehog Hotel, with Dan Jackson (10) and Maisy Blackburn (10) coming in as runners-up. Lilija now sees her design displayed in the showhome garden at the Paddocks, and each child was a gifted a toy hedgehog as a memento from the day, and to act as a reminder of what they learned.

The Paddocks marks the second of three David Wilson Homes sites set to install Hedgehog Highways, which allow the animals to move freely under fence posts and between gardens. Hedgehogs are declining in Britain, attributable to more secure fencing and walling, which reduce the amount of land available for them to roam safely in search of food, mates and nesting sites. David Wilson Homes has consequently been working with the British Hedgehog Preservation society in implementing Hedgehog Highways across chosen developments.

Rosemary Brahan, Year 3/4 teacher at Skelmanthorpe Academy, commented: “The children loved taking part in the competition and it was a great chance for them to be creative whilst learning about local wildlife. They really enjoyed their visit to the Paddocks to see Lilija’s winning design in situ, and of course, were very excited to take away a little hedgehog of their own!”

Emma Barker, Sales Adviser at The Paddocks, commented: “It is really important to educate children on the importance of wildlife and our local environment, and it was great to have the class from Skelmanthorpe Academy visit our development, to show them how we can protect the hedgehogs living near our homes. Skelmanthorpe is a beautiful area and as with all our developments, we want to preserve its wildlife. The children’s hedgehog house designs were all great and Lilija’s Hedgehog Hotel now looks perfect sitting proudly in our show home garden!”

The Paddocks is a beautiful semi-rural development of four bedroom homes in the historic village of Skelmanthorpe south east of Huddersfield. Homes are available to purchase from £309,995.

For more information about David Wilson Homes visit www.dwh.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Savage .