RESIDENTS can enjoy the many benefits of being outdoors and getting back to nature this year, with new opportunities to volunteer in the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Helping Hands for Heritage is offering a variety of free training and practical events for you to join in with over the next three months.

Help the AONB team to keep an eye on the condition of the Tamar Valley's landscape with a choice of two Landscape Monitoring Workshops. Choose from Tuesday, February 3 on the Bere Peninsula or Tuesday, February 24 in the Lynher area.

Pond survey skills will be taught in idyllic surroundings at Pentillie on Thursday, February 19. Please call the AONB team for further details.

The woodland plant workshop at the National Trust's Cotehele House will take place on Wednesday, March 4, from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Ian Bennallick, from the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, will show participants how to identify flowering plants, trees and ferns in Cotehele's woodlands.

Discover the art of apple grafting and take a tree home with you on Friday, March 6, from 11am to 4pm. The Tamar Valley Centre, Drakewalls, provides the venue to learn the theory behind grafting with Dave Redman and Tamar Grow Local's Simon Platten. Following lunch, there will be the chance to put your new knowledge to the test.

Starting a tree nursery will take place in a working allotment at Harrowbarrow on Saturday, March 14, from 11am to 4pm. Find out how to set up a tree nursery and stool bed, learn how to care for trees and how they grow and plant the trees that were grafted in a previous workshop.

Booking is essential for all events as places are limited.

Lunch and all refreshments will be provided. For further information on any event or to book, call 01822 835030 or email [email protected]">[email protected]