Nature is a powerful resource, with well-documented benefits for improving people’s health and wellbeing. Time spent in green space can reduce stress, encourage physical activity, strengthen social connection, and play an important role in prevention and recovery. Yet for some people, the benefits of nature remain out of reach, because access is not always easy, welcoming or designed around how people live their lives.
For many, the barriers are practical as much as psychological: not knowing where to go, uncertainty about whether a route will feel manageable, lack of confidence navigating unfamiliar places, or simply not seeing local green space as something “for them”. These are often the very barriers faced most by people living with long-term health conditions, reduced mobility, low confidence and social isolation.
Healthcare has an important role to play, but for nature-based interventions to become part of everyday health creation, prevention and care, professionals in the system need confidence in their value, clear and trusted referral routes, and locally relevant opportunities that are easy to connect people with.
That is where Green Health Routes comes in
In 2025, CSH, in partnership with Forestry England and funded by Sport England through the National Lottery, delivered Green Health Routes in the North East, working across Chopwell Wood, Guisborough Forest and their surrounding communities. The project developed nine walking routes linking trusted community places: including GP surgeries, libraries and cafes, with nearby woodland and green space, supported by printed maps, digital tools, audio guidance, virtual walks and community activities. Find out more about the project here
Creating trusted pathways into nature
What makes Green Health Routes distinctive is that it was designed around people. Rather than expecting individuals to travel to a destination site, the routes create trusted pathways into nature, beginning from familiar community spaces on people’s doorsteps and helping make outdoor connection feel welcoming and achievable in everyday life.
Co-designed with local communities, the routes were shaped around how people want to engage with nature: building confidence, removing uncertainty and creating clearer, more accessible ways to connect with nearby green space, whether on foot, through active travel or via digital resources for those unable to visit in person.
In Chopwell, this meant linking routes with The Bank, a much-loved community café and hub, where a walk could begin with a cup of tea, conversation and a welcoming environment. A simple loyalty card scheme offering a free hot drink after six walks helped reinforce nature connection as an everyday habit rather than a one-off activity.
This is where the project offers something transferable: a practical model that builds confidence, helps people connect more meaningfully with local green spaces, and creates trusted local opportunities for healthcare and community systems to connect people with nature as part of everyday wellbeing.
What changed for communities
Feedback from the project has already shown encouraging signs of impact. Project participants consistently described feeling calmer, more connected to nature and more confident spending time outdoors. Routes were frequently described as easy to follow and reassuring to use, helping reduce anxiety around exploring unfamiliar green spaces independently. For some, this confidence translated into meaningful behaviour change, progressing from shorter, gentler walks to longer routes, returning for multiple activities, or beginning to use local green spaces more regularly as part of everyday life. Beyond physical activity, the routes also created opportunities for creativity, social connection and gentle recovery, demonstrating how accessible nature-based opportunities can support wellbeing in ways that feel inclusive, achievable and locally relevant.
Partnerships made the difference
At its heart, Green Health Routes shows what is possible when key stakeholders bring different strengths together around a shared ambition. By combining local knowledge, trusted community connections, and expertise in nature engagement and healthcare, the partnership created something practical, meaningful, and grounded in local need.
For Ellen Devine, Wellbeing Projects Manager at Forestry England, the project demonstrated the value of connecting forests more intentionally with the communities around them. As she reflected, the routes have “quite literally put the forests on the local community map” and have helped make being active in nature something that can be part of people’s everyday life, in spaces hyper-local to them, as well as part of a visit to a nearby forest.
Lorna Routledge, Active Forests Coordinator at Forestry England, also highlighted how the routes strengthened their ability to support self-led activity, giving people clear and accessible options to explore independently, while broadening the range of opportunities available, from fully accessible routes through to more challenging walks, to better meet diverse needs.
Making nature part of healthcare takes time, but it matters
A key reflection from the project is that embedding nature-based approaches into healthcare systems takes time, sustained effort and trusted relationships. Healthcare professionals are under significant pressure, and while enthusiasm for green social prescribing and preventative approaches is growing, capacity to engage is often limited. Yet the opportunity to support prevention, wellbeing, and recovery through stronger connections with nature is significant.
Green Health Routes has helped begin building those connections by engaging with GP practices, social prescribers, wellbeing networks and community organisations and sharing resources; helping raise awareness, strengthen referral confidence, and create clearer local opportunities to connect people with nature. More than a walking initiative, it creates a clearer pathway that helps embed nature more meaningfully within communities for their health and wellbeing.
Creating lasting connections with nature
The impact of Green Health Routes extends beyond the funded project, with the foundations created continuing to support activity, nature connection and engagement within local communities. Routes are still being used in creative and meaningful ways, including photography wellbeing walks that combine movement with creativity, offering a softer and more welcoming entry point into nature connection. Walking kit bags developed through the project are also helping groups build confidence in weaving nature connectedness into their own walks and activities. Forestry England continues to champion the routes too, embedding them within future activity planning and delivery to encourage ongoing use and engagement.
One of the model’s greatest strengths is its adaptability. Beyond physical routes, digital resources (including virtual walks and audio guidance), create additional ways for people to connect with nature, particularly those facing mobility challenges, anxiety about unfamiliar places, or barriers to visiting in person. This broader offer reflects an important principle at the heart of Green Health Routes: meaningful access to nature must be flexible, inclusive and shaped around people’s diverse needs.
What happens next
Whilst Green Health Routes was delivered over a single year, its reflections and opportunities extend far beyond the life of the project. We believe the model offers real potential for wider adoption across health and community settings nationally. Building on previous Green Health Routes delivery, the North East project has further strengthened our understanding of what helps routes become embedded locally: trusted partnerships, community co-design, accessible and diverse resources, and connections into healthcare pathways.
- For public health teams, Primary Care Networks, social prescribers and wider clinical systems, Green Health Routes offers a practical way to support prevention, reduce isolation, encourage physical activity and connect people with nature in ways that feel accessible, relevant and achievable.
- For cross-sector partners, it provides a blueprint for collaboration.
- For communities, it offers something simple but powerful: a clearer path to connect with nature close to home, and with it, the health and wellbeing benefits that can follow.
The opportunity now is to move beyond recognising nature’s value and embed it more intentionally across the healthcare system, from policy through to delivery within communities. Green Health Routes offers a practical demonstration of how a place-based approach can create local opportunities for people to access, connect with and benefit from nature, while complementing existing healthcare systems and care pathways to support healthier communities.
To talk more about Green Health Routes, email info@nhsforest.org.
Banner image: Green Health Routes Foraging Walk. Photo: Molly Wilders, 2025. All rights reserved.