SLEEPING in the Sinai desert staring at a sea of stars that looked close enough to touch, Annie Davy was struck by a sense of wonder.

“I’d never seen anything like it before. I felt like the whole universe was incredibly close and intense,” she said.

“I wish everybody could experience the intensity of that connection to nature, especially young children. I don’t think you ever lose it.”

That experience while she was travelling in Egypt as a young woman helped cement a passion for nature first developed as child.

She credits her father, John Davy, who was one of the UK’s first national science reporters and worked at the Observer from the 1950s onwards as also having a massive impact on encouraging her curiosity about the world.

"He had such a fascination and desire to celebrate how the world works."

It eventually led her to combine her love of nature with education in order to share her passion, though she admits becoming a teacher was ‘more by luck than judgement’.

She moved to Oxford in the early 1980s after spending her childhood in Sussex to study anthropology at Brookes, eventually doing her teacher training there as well.

Early years education has gone on to form a big part of her life but she admits: “I’m not sure I was the best school teacher.

“It didn’t really suit my temperament because of the strict curriculum you have to follow.

“There was more freedom in early years to let the children follow their own passions and explore the outdoors which is probably why I particularly liked that.”

An interest in community, education and nature have formed the basis of Ms Davy’s ever-evolving ‘portfolio’ career, which has ranged from author to council officer, as well as a brief stint as interim headteacher of Oxford nursery school Grandpont in 2016.

Her next major role came in the late 1990s when she became the head of early years and childcare for Oxfordshire County Council.

“It was at the time when the Children Act was coming into force and a lot of informal play groups and child minders were needing help to become regulated," she explained.

“There was also a lot of focus and investment in early years education, this was when sure start centres were being set up as well as a focus on forest schools which I was passionate about."

She was in the position for 12 years but was able to take breaks to gain a masters in education and spend time at children’s charity Learning through Landscapes, which further helped her explore her passion for education via the outdoors.

The mother-of-three also found the time during this period to champion the first of two major community projects after becoming concerned about waste land at the back of her East Oxford house.

Barracks Lane Community Garden was created from the former waste-filled garage site in 2007 by Ms Davy and a group of residents and still is used by the community for picnics, parties, events and workshops to this day.

“I had no idea how hard it was going to be, it took four years to get access to the site,” admitted Ms Davy.

“It has been so worth it though to reclaim the land for the community. I haven’t been involved in the running of the garden for around five years now but my house backs onto Barracks Lane and so whenever I hear children’s laughter from a party it makes me happy to know it is still doing so well.”

Since leaving the council in 2011 she has also found time to help restore services at the former Florence Park Children’s Centre- a cause especially close to her heart due to her work setting up the original sure start centres.

The building was closed in February 2017, the victim of dramatic funding cuts, but the East Oxford site opened again last year thanks to a community-led campaign which Ms Davy was heavily involved in.

Local residents were determined not to lose the site entirely and more than 1,500 people signed a petition calling on the county council to approve plans to reopen the building.

In September 2017 Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet agreed proposals for charity Aspire to take over the East Oxford site and transform it into a community hub.

The centre, now called Flo’s, houses a new café, a forest nursery, a community drop-in space and meeting rooms.

Aspire will receive £30,000 over the next three years from the council from a £1m pot to help groups reopen community centres closed following the cuts.

Ms Davy said: “There has been an amazing team who have been involved and we’ve just properly opened the nursery at Flo’s which is a forest nursery.”

Forest schools and nurseries are based around the concept of teaching as much as possible via the outdoors and for Ms Davy it puts into practice her own wish while stargazing decades ago.

While she said the concept has gone in and out of fashion over the years, she said believed forest nurseries were ‘here to stay’ adding: “You can learn maths, art, science and so much more in nature but the same can’t be said about learning nature indoors.

"It's so important for children to develop that real connection to the natural world as early as possible. It has so many benefits for them and for the environment."

Next month Ms Davy will launch a new book called A Sense of Place which focuses on how educators can better help children to explore nature.