Collect Conkers This Autumn In Greater Manchester

Everyone loves Autumn especially children. One reason is conkers! My son loves to collect conkers, in fact he goes bonkers over conkers!

I can always remember when he was 3 years old, his favourite thing about walking to nursery was passing the big trees to see if any conkers had fallen. He’s 7 now and still loves to collect conkers!

Conkers usually start to fall from the tree in September, and this is the best time to pick them.

Best Places To Find Conkers In Greater Manchester

• Last August we found loads of conkers at Chadderton Hall Park (Chadderton), however we were too early and they hadn’t fallen from the tree.

• September last year, we visited Stamford Park (Ashton Under Lyne). We found lots of conker shells, but to the disappointment to my son, some other lucky children had got there first and we could only find one!

• Also a few years ago we visited his Great Grandparent’s memorial tree at Southern Cemetery (Cholton Cum Hardy) and walked along the main road. We have never seen so many conkers, my son thought it was absolutely brilliant. We had the biggest pile of conkers in our kitchen. It may be an unusual place for a walk, but if your conker hunting it’s definitely worth a visit.

• most recently, we found lots of conkers in Foxdenton Park, Chadderton.

• Some other places I believe children have spotted conkers – Lyme Park (Disley, Stockport), Dunham Massey (Altringham), Cheetham Park (Stalybridge) and Manor Park (Glossop).

Make sure you let us know where you and your children like to visit to collect conkers.

Some Facts About Conkers!

*A conker is the seed of the Horse Chestnut Tree.

*The first ever recorded game of conkers dates back to 1848.

*Help keep spiders away – some people say keeping conkers in a bowl in your home keeps spiders away. (I’m just about to go and put my pile in a bowl!)

How To Play Conkers.

*Playing Conkers – you will need 2 shoelaces or pieces of string and 2 people. Pierce a hole into 2 conkers and thread onto the string. Toss a coin to decide who goes first then take it in turns to try to hit each other’s conker. The aim of the game is to smash your opponents conker into pieces.

What do you do with all the conkers your children collect-

If I am totally honest, ours usually end up in the bin after a while.

Here’s a few crafty ideas of what you could do with them:

*Decorate them- you could paint them, sprinkle with glitter, you could even stick them together and add some googly eyes!

*Pierce holes into the conkers and make necklaces or bracelets!

*You could make pencil toppers after decorating them.

Get in touch and let us know what you make with your conkers!