Would you like to come on a magical adventure, full of exploring and discovery? Yes? Then… Welcome to the Toadstool Trail! A magical outdoor nature trail filled with curious adventuring and togetherness that spans the generations.
The Trail is child led. The child (the Bramble) leads their chosen adult(s) (The Brumble(s)) around the trail finding hidden treasures and working out clues along the way. Often the Bramble will be joyfully and enthusiastically discovering things in the natural world for the first time that in turn reminds the Brumbles about the often forgotten magic of being outside in green spaces (especially in our busy world).
Focusing in all on the joy of appreciating what is around us and tuning into nature it not only allows learning together and encouraging being outdoors from a young age it promotes wellbeing and being active outdoors.
Whilst enjoying the trail, Suzanne’s illustrated map and prompts creatively encourages the child to be more engaged in sensory exploration, immersing themselves in the sights, sounds, and textures of the natural world. It encourages children to actively observe and record wildlife, creating an appreciation for local biodiversity and an eye for botanical world too.
📍 Dundee Botanic Garden houses the first permanent trail and we are so grateful to them for allowing us to prototype and develop the trails from there. There have also been one day pop up trails with both Scone Palace, Ninewells Community Garden and Dens Road Primary School (Hilltown Park) and the MAXwell Centre and Garden.
📍The MAXwell Garden now houses our second trail, which was co-created with the children who attend the after school club. We all had an amazing time!
WHAT IS IT?
The Toadstool Trail stands out due to its blend of art, community engagement, and environmental education. Connecting young children and their families with nature, positively impacting local wildlife and habitats while building a community spirit centred around sustainability.
The Toadstool Trail is all about capturing the magic of nature, about being together across generations, and about being outdoors. It’s about encouraging people to find the multitudes of benefits to being outdoors, with the main one being (with the wonderful side effect) that it can make you happy!
WHO IS BEHIND IT ALL?
The Trail is the brainchild of Suzanne Scott of WhimSicAL LusH, promoting outdoor curiosity and exploration through art, partnered with Rodney Mountain the creator of ‘Brambles and Brumbles’ concept of intergenerational togetherness. Together they bring a magical trail of inclusivity, togetherness and outdoor curious adventuring.
HOW IS IT MADE?
The toadstool sculptures may look simple but they are actually pretty complicated to create! They started out as Suzanne’s 2D sketches that were transformed into a 3D model by Ellie Smith and then in turn printed from resin at Abertay University by Gerry High. Once the sculptures were printed they were all hand finished, painted and lacquered before installation.
Did you know? Each toadstool is unique! Suzanne loves playing around whilst painting the sculptures and paints different patterns of spots on each one… and if you get the chance to peek underneath, the gills and ‘skirt’ are even more detailed than the main body of the toadstool. She loves hidden details!
📍 WHERE IS IT?
Dundee Botanic Garden is our official Toadstool HQ. It houses a permanent trail of six handpainted toadstool sculptures hidden around their 27 acres of stunning garden and woodland, with an WhimSicAL LusH illustrated map and bespoke challenges available at reception for all visitors (small and big). For more about this trail click on the toadstool! 🍄
The second trail launched in MAXwell Garden on 29th March 2025. It was co-designed by the children who visit the gardens regularly during their after school club. For more about this trail click on the toadstool! 🍄
There have also been several pop up one day Toadstool Trails. We have popped up at Scone Palace, Hilltown Park, Dundee and Ninewells Community Garden too.
We plan to install another few permanent trails in the near future, with some exciting discussions happening just now… so watch this space!
Co-Designing a pop up trail with the Primary 1 class at Dens Road Primary.
Mentioned working with the fantastic children in Dens Road PS, here’s what happened!
The school trail saw Suzanne working creatively with the school’s P1 class over a number of months to design their own trail in their local park, which included nature walks, planning trail prompts and learning how to make maps. Their trail went down a storm, with so many of the children, their families and favourite people attending and enjoying all the activities (that they helped to create).
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THE TOADSTOOLS?
(Let Suzanne tell you more…)
Imagine you are walking together along a shaded woodland path on a beautiful sunny day. You are enjoying the sounds of the birds, the smells of the woods and in particular the puddles of sunshine spilling through gaps in the leafy canopy and onto the moss and ferns growing beneath, making them glow! You turn a corner and you catch a glimpse of something so magical that makes you stop in your tracks and catch your breath. You run over to see what this treasure/ gem is!
It’s a beautifully formed toadstool, growing at the base of a tall tree, glowing and almost sparkling like a jewel in the spotlight of the gentle sunbeams that have found it. It is almost like an exhibit you could find in an art gallery it is so perfectly framed. As you get closer you remember that you’ve been told never to touch these beautiful toadstools as they can be poisonous but that makes it seem even more magical. You spend a lovely while looking at your delightful find, admiring the spots on the caps, the striped gills underneath and the curious floaty skirt on the stalk. You can imagine why people may have told stories of these being fairy houses or stools for toads as they are just so captivating.
As you sit you cannot quite believe your eyes as you see a dust start to drift from the toadstool into the sunbeam, it’s like it is sending wishes into the world or dreams. It isn’t that really but I do love to daydream, and have done as a child. All these childhood memories come flooding back with waves of calm and happy nostalgia that reminds me just how wonderful these moments were as a child, discovering the world for the first time and being encouraged to create wonderlands and dreamlands in my imagination of what things could be… with a healthy balance of what was really happening. I knew really that these were spores floating into the air. That toadstools (also known as mushrooms but always the poisonous kind) are actually the fruiting bodies of a an underground network of mycelium that connects miles of toadstools, mushrooms and trees! But I only knew this through being taught by the adults accompanying me on these curious adventures (as I now love to call them). My parents would teach my brother and I all about the plants around us, with a particular interest on teaching us what we could grow and eat and also what would be extremely poisonous… whilst being beautiful. We would wander through fields and woods, foraging and discovering and making up little stories based on what we discovered. My brother and I would write stories about imaginary creatures that may live in these places and inhabit those secret magical spots. What adventures would they get up to?
When we feel overwhelmed, when we have stubborn ailments that wear us down, if we are sad maybe or just not quite ourselves it is easy to forget sometimes that a wander into nature can cure or at the very least calm and salve those worries and aches and replace them with a sense of calm as we listen to the sounds of nature, focus on the bird song, listen to water running in a burn, watch the leaves on the trees blow in the breeze, smell the fresh heady pine smells of the woodland floor, take pleasure in the flowers growing along the edges of hedgerows and watch rabbits play on the hill. Be inspired by natures colours, shapes, sounds and smells and embrace the treats that can be found, especially as summer turns towards autumn and the brambles ripen ready to be discovered and eaten as a unexpected treat on a walk, where you get home with your fingers and smiling faces stained with the juice.
As adults we easily forget that nature has such peaceful healing powers and we must try to remember that allowing ourselves those quiet moments in nature are as restorative and rejuvenating (if not more so) than many other thing we perceive to be relaxing, like lounging on the couch in front of the TV after a long day of work. Sometimes that short walk into the park or along the river will refresh us more than staying indoors.
We have to teach our children the joys of being outdoors, the joys of spending time together outside, the absolute joy and wonder of exploring outdoors and of being allowed and encouraged to be curious and imaginative so that they can keep those experiences with them and use them throughout their lives. We have to let ourselves be taught by our children too, whether they be our sons and daughters, nieces and nephews or grandchildren. We must allow them to guide us through their new worlds and allow them to find and show us what they discover. To let them tell us their stories. To encourage their creativity and imaginations to grow.
Our green spaces are everywhere around us. They may not always be large but they can always be found, nurtured or even created. Dundee is a beautiful city for its green spaces and wherever you live there is somewhere that is only about 20 minutes away that you can go to be surrounded by green or water. We have the luxury of those beautiful parks and the flowing river Tay right on our doorsteps just waiting to be enjoyed.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
The trails have been a great success so far and there is the hope that we can roll out more, both permanent and temporary pop ups with community engagement being at their heart.
As well as developing more trails we are currently developing our education resources and have been having some very exciting conversations and researching, writing and drawing away behind the scenes.
We have also joined forces with our friends at MAXwell Centre to be the Dundee Stewards for Playful Green Planet. It is a movement co-created with local communities, delivered in partnership with the RSA, Eden Project and Bath Spa University, and funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Dundee is one of the first two local stewards of this project for the whole of the UK, alongside Hull University. Read more about this project here.
Thanks to:
The Toadstool Trail has been developed by Toadstool Trail Co-Creators Suzanne Scott (WhimSicAL LusH) and Rod Mountain and supported by partnerships with local 3D computer design artist and recent Abertay University Graduate, Ellie Smith (who turned Suzanne’s illustrations into a 3D model). Huge thanks go to Gerry High and Abertay University for technical assistance (3D printing), Clare Brennan too for making those magical connections. Hope Busak from RSPB Scotland, and Kevin Frediani from the University of Dundee Botanic Garden for all their fabulous support too. Thanks also to Dens Road Primary for having us along to play for a term.
The permanent Toadstool Trail in Dundee Botanic Garden was funded by the garden (University of Dundee). Additional funding from Changemaker’s Hub micro grant helped fund the Hilltown Park pop up with Dens Rd PS and funding from NHS Tayside Charitable Foundation allowed us to create our second permanent trail in MAXwell Garden, and to develop our education resources. Thank you to you all, we couldn’t do this without you.
Thanks also to Sheffmed, Alan and Amanda, for creating more 3d printed toadstools for us to use as part of our trails. You are so very generous. We love that they are also made from recycled materials and biodegradable too!
To everyone at Mid-Lin too who have been visiting the botanic gardens with us and helping us look further into intergenerational aspects of the trails.
A huge thank you to WhimSicAL LusH assistant Skye Sutherland and very much part of Team Toadstool for all your help with the Toadstool Extras (education resources) and much much more. Thanks also to Fiona Hynes for your education guidance and encouragement.
To MAXwell Centre and Garden for being the home of the second Toadstool Trail and also our partners as the Dundee Stewards for Playful Green Planet – we are team Playful Green Dundee!
THERE’S MORE!!
Suzanne works as a freelance illustrator and designer when she is not having fun on the Toadstool Trail with Rod! Her work is heavily inspired by nature and very often includes toadstools in her drawings. A big fan of creating pieces that are not only visually appealing but have a purpose too she often turns her drawings into stationary, textiles and homeware. You can wear her artwork too as she often creates wearable pieces in the form of pins, necklaces and beautiful scarves!
WhimSicAL LusH 