Fancy a family-friendly walk or bike ride - and some interesting practical sustainability to see, do and chat about?

As part of Great Big Green Week, the nationwide week-long festival of community climate action supported by, among 140 others - the National Trust, WI, Oxfam and the RSPB - MinchCAN is having a Walking+Talking Sustainability Discovery Trail.

No tickets, it's free. On Saturday, 24 September, from 10am to 4pm, local sustainability heroes will be lining up to show off the things they do to help make their communities more sustainable.

MinchCAN co-founder Dmytro Bojaniwskyj stressed: "Trail day is about connecting with your community and the people living in it - and having fun! Nobody saves the planet on their own, but together, learning, stacking our little changes up, that's progress, that's change, that's a real difference. Together we can do it."

Following the trail

Centred on Besbury, the 6½ km (4 miles) trail route goes into and out of the Frome valley joining up Brimscombe, Knapp, Minchinhampton and Burleigh. There's a map to follow, and an online sustainability hunt as well from Nature's Racers, but everyone's free to explore and see as much or as little of the trail as they like.

Trail highlights

• Visit Brimscombe Mill for the Grace Network's ethical social enterprises, including The Bike Drop, The Long Table, Kids Stuff, and the Furniture Bank.
• Explore Charlea Community Garden, a locally-run rewilded open space for local people to enjoy nature and learn how to care for it and animals.
• Try the bird-hide eco-loo and bike generator at Knapp Farm's sustainable glamping site; see how they're rewilding, do a bird-food workshop and take the biodiversity quiz. You can hear Gill from Knapp Farm being interviewed about the trail on the Faye Hatcher show.
• Get ready to meet your new best tree! Tree walks with urban tree champion John.
• Find out your carbon footprint at Holy Trinity Church with a Fairtrade cup of tea.
• Pedal apples into juice on Phil and Jerry's bike-based fruit juicer.
• Can't quite cut it? Tom will be demonstrating how to sharpen knives and scissors.
• Visit Minchinhampton Community Library, open all day for the trail.
• Imagine how we saved the world in a sustainable art workshop run by local artist Gemma.
• Learn about wildlife gardening with Fran in Burleigh.

About MinchCAN

Minch CAN is a community group for the Commons communities east of Stroud dedicated to sustainability, carbon-neutrality, habitat restoration and community resilience. Anyone living in or near Minchinhampton, Amberley, Brimscombe Hill, Box, Burleigh or Hyde wanting to find out more about it or to join should visit minchcan.org  or its social media pages.