Bank Holiday Monday

Our last day started a little earlier than the others with a 1030am breakfast - bacon and egg sarnies for Ant and a mushroom and cheese Rolex for me (this time in our own iron skillet with the lid on) worked a treat although I possibly put a bit too much butter in with the egg! was yummy though.
Weekend drinking did have its plus sides too... it allowed Mungo to handcraft our awesome decorative "beer-catcher". Definitely not something to be consigned to Trap Number Two along with all our other woodland handicrafts. It's currently hanging on the side of the un-named kitchen/shelter.
We also took full advantage of having a load of muscles in camp on Monday, as a fallen tree was finally moved into position on the ridge to provide a long and fairly level bench with a fab view down into camp.
The next major camp will be the August bank holiday and all are in agreement that it would be a good time to dam the stream and create the pond which we have decided is best placed in the wayleave under the cables where it will get the most sun. It's also the point where two streams converge into one so makes a perfect spot with minimal digging as a deep-sided ghyll has already been formed over many years.
Sadly the afternoon was spent packing up camp and trekking back and forth to the parking area to load vehicles. We did however leave ourselves time to chat over plans for next weekend; some mods to the kitchen are needed for storage and some minor floor leveling is required around the fire area to ensure drinks have a steadier footing. We will also attempt to remove the tree stumps from the campfire area - which we discovered were a serious trip hazard in the dark! But the most exciting plan is to finally attempt a full roast dinner on the campfire using the spit and dutch ovens. Can't wait.

One year anniversary camp (Friday - Sunday)

I arrived into camp after work on Friday with my friend Caryn and a weekends supply of food, to find this gorgeous chicken roasting on a greenwood spit - it had been on a "high up" heat for an hour already and we turned it for another hour before moving it off to the side to "rest". It was succulent, still warm and very very tasty. We had it in pitta breads with pre-made butter containing spring onion, garlic and seasoning. Truly gorgeous and with zero washing up to do too. Top job Ant; Sunday roasts here we come.
After washing the chicken down with some very nice Rioja to mark the one year anniversary of becoming Rais wood's new custodians, I awoke on Saturday a little worse for wear; in truth, quite a lot worse for wear... it was lunchtime. Thankfully the kettle was on and there was still chicken and pitta left which partly revived me (unlike the head-dipped-in-the-pond method I had already tried).
The kids were off den-building for much of the day as new arrivals turned up and set up camp in the trees. A small woodland village was forming and the kitchen was filling fast with bags of food, drinks and cooking pans. This prompted me to actually work my way through my hangover by finishing the washing-up stand and having it ready for use. The extra cross-bracing has certainly made it much sturdier than it was before and the new joints look much better.
On Sunday morning after the boys fry-ups were all finished on the campfire, I borrowed Flee and Tracey's new cast iron skillet from Ronnie Sunshines to make a Ugandan Rolex. (mine contained shredded cabbage, carrot and onion in an omelette, rolled up in a flour tortilla) - the bottom did not stick at all, but the bottom had cooked long before the top had. Next time - I am putting a pre-heated cast iron lid on at the same time - to turn it into a mini oven.
After breakfast the men were left in camp to do man-stuff (log chopping, splitting and stacking) whilst we women, set off to clear the northern wayleave of Bracken by pulling up stems one-by-one from the base which grabs the root too - or at least part of it. Bracken has thick, fleshy, brown-black underground stems that can travel long distances, and in cool, woodland areas, bracken will germinate from spores carried in on the wind.  Bracken should not be eaten, either by humans or livestock, since it contains carcinogens linked with oesophageal and stomach cancer. Eating the young fronds, which are considered a delicacy in Japan and parts of North America, is definitely NOT recommended! One website states that "People who have spent all their lives living amongst bracken and breathing in the spores may be at higher risk of getting some cancers, but the danger to the general population and to casual visitors in bracken-infested areas is negligible.  People gathering bracken for composting or eradication purposes are advised not to do so in late summer when the spores are released, particularly in dry weather." So doing it now before the spores form is definitely the best option. Thanks guys for all the hard work - the wayleave north of the stream is now almost clear of Bracken and the wildflowers will once again have a chance to grow. The bracken will of course be back next spring and it will take a few years to get rid of the lot - but we will get there. Little and often.
The afternoon was much more sedate, Tracey teaching everyone to make para-cord bracelets and the kids swinging from trees above the mudslide. Lots of sunshine, lots of laughs and a few drinks to go with it - perfect.

Make your own flat-pack furniture

Wow - two glorious weekends in a row - this doesn't bode well for bank holiday weekend - we can't possibly get three in a row.. .can we?  It will be our first Rais group camp of the year and we are almost ready - The wood is looking truly magnificent (slightly biased of course) but the spring flowers have way exceeded my expectations and even the Rhodies are opening up their massive purple flowers making me almost forgive their rampant domination.

This weekend's task was supposed to be re-making the washing up stand (hindsight is such a wonderful thing - NOT!). Now that I have realised my mistakes and better learnt how to carve angled joints in round wood, I had every intention of spending a full day on it on Saturday. However, things didn't quite go to plan - I got up on time, made some venison burgers to take with us, nipped to B&Q for guttering fixings for "Trap Number 2" and a sharpening stone, then returned and stupidly upset the cat - ended up in A&E having my lip sewn back together! We got to spend just a few hours at the wood in the afternoon, relaxing and bark peeling instead.  So I didn't actually start on the washing up stand until this morning...

I drew a picture of it to start with and numbered every piece, then took the whole thing apart to re-do the joints. And after working on it from 830am for most of the day, I really think it's going to work this time (my fingers and thumbs are barely working anymore though) -  I am now waiting until the glue sets so I can put the top back together without needing 8 pairs of hands. I also added another couple of cross-braces which should help with the sturdiness.
My face is slightly swollen today and the stitches are in an awkward position making eating and drinking pretty tricky (not to mention painful) but hopefully the stitches will be taken out on Thursday in time for the big bank camp. Co-incidentally this Thursday is also the one year anniversary of our ownership of the wood so I had a look through some of the original photos I took on the first visit and thought I'd have a go at replicating some of them to create the start of a before and after book. So looking forward to seeing the gang round the campfire in a few days and sleeping 3 consecutive nights in my bivvy bag. Fingers crossed for a dry weekend.

Another glorious weekend - but today I have mostly been peeling bark

After some seriously high winds this week we were pleased to see that the new roof had fared particularly well - only the ends of the bark rolls had flipped over, but were still very much attached and undamaged. So Ant's first job was to put some additional wire onto the ends of each roll to tie them down whilst I set to work staining the new decking to give it a slightly longer life and help it to blend into the woodland - plants are already starting to grow up through the slats in just two weeks - at this rate it will become a striped green and brown decking by the start of the summer.
There wasn't much wood preservative left, so I used what remained to give the shed a little touch up, before moving to help Ant build our new "bedroom" in the southern bluebell section. We will leave the "in-camp" beds in situ for when there is just the two of us staying, but we wanted to build something more permanent slightly further away; we didn't want people to feel uncomfortable making any noise or movement in the mornings with us still sleeping right in the middle of camp... who am I kidding?... we just want to give ourselves the best possible chance of a decent undisturbed lie-in when everyone descends on the place in a couple of weeks time - kids don't know the meaning of the word hangover.
So.... we needed new stakes, new ridge poles and new bed poles to make A-frame beds that would hopefully last us a good while - so Ant made his from Oak and mine are half Oak and half Alder - which we now know is a hardwood which is great for making furniture for damp conditions. In fact the pilings that the watery city of Venice is built on are apparently made from Alder wood. Which is great because we have loads of it!
We used a tarp each to provide the back windbreak walls which will eventually be replaced with a woven willow/hazel screening - but we must wait for the right time to harvest the materials to enable a steady supply. So far I have only found two young willows and so we don't want to decimate them until they are properly established - but rather harvest a few rods at a time and build the walls over a number of seasons. Tarp is fine for now - it will protect us from the wind and rain, it's just a little noisy - but I'm guessing no worse than my snoring.

We then spent a good few hours whittling away by the unlit campfire peeling bark from the remainder of the Oak ready for seasoning and chair making - Ant is going for a Viking throne and I am attempting a solid Nordic rocker. Of course I may just end up with a stool - but I'm looking forward to giving it a go.
We left the wood about 730pm just as the sun had dipped below the tree line and the midges were munching - really really really should have lit the campfire - definitely NOT making that mistake again.

yellow archangel

Come Sunday morning we were back bright and early and I took a good walk round to see which wildflowers had come into bloom in the last week or so since I last looked - we now have pink Herb Roberts to add to the mass of spring yellows and purples. It's so beautiful I was overwhelmed at one point... down by the ghyll, where we first started clearing almost a year ago, the flora has been completely revived. Removing the thick evergreen Rhododendron and allowing the light to reach the ground, combined with the foot traffic churning up the woodland floor has created an amazing carpet of flowers of all colours, shapes and sizes - I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. A little bit of effort goes such a long way in the wild woodland garden - the rewards are immense. I can't wait to see how the northern section recovers next year - because the Rhodie there was impenetrable.

So after my little emotional moment I had a word with myself and returned to the campfire, where I found Ant stripping the bark from his Oak bed poles and the other pieces he had reserved to make his throne. The sun was shining, the fire was lit and it wasn't long before the sausages were sizzling.
My sister had joined us for lunch and from her single seat by the fire managed to spot a very well camouflaged small frog to the side of her on the bank as well as our resident (as-yet un-named) bank vole that lives in the hole underneath the bird feeders.  Kenneth The Second came over to say hello and three Buzzards were circling directly over our heads for a while calling to each other - noisy buggers.
Spent a glorious afternoon in the sunshine, chatting, whittling, planning the next few projects and marveling at the birdsong - all the while generating huge piles of bark strippings and quite a few minor nicks with the knife. Happiness is only a woodland away.

First bank holiday weekend of the year

The bank holiday weekend started much like any other.... i.e. with a hangover. But we dragged ourselves up and headed out to meet our fellow Blackfold wood owners and share a brew and a Venison sausage breakfast. What lovely people - quite surprised some of them come from so far afield (like West London) but overjoyed to learn that one of them is a professional tree surgeon - good to know.
After breakfast we swapped contact details, with the new neighbours, said our goodbyes and took our beer-breath and free venison mince off home (via the charity shop, the second-hand book store and Tescos of course).  In the afternoon, Ant loaded Raymond up with the contents of the shed on our front patio, before taking the shed down ready to move, whilst I packed yet more boxes in the flat. (I tried to help with the shed - but ended up leaping about like a lunatic every time I saw a spider so wasn't much help at all). This moving malarky is exhausting.
We awoke Sunday morning to the most horrendous weather - thankfully by the time we actually got up it had slowed to a miserable wet mist.  Simon and Keith turned up first thing and together they all transported the shed to Rais and re-erected it in the woods on the northern boundary - looks fantastic in it's new home. Since we now have a lockable "Cabin-in-the-woods", we can let the beer-brewing commence!
Flee and Tracey arrived in the afternoon and the roof was finished off with rolls of bark screening.  This is the view from the top of the steps looking down - it took 4.5 bark rolls 4 metres long by 1.2 metres wide. Flee and Keith attached them to the corrugated roof with some thick wire - the stuff we pulled out from the wood over the winter that had been used to secure the chicken wire pheasant runs. I knew we'd find a use for it eventually.
The 4 metre lengths don't quite reach to the back of the kitchen area which is perfect as it's the area where we need the light to be let in for cooking etc. I am hoping too that the plants will eventually grow up and across the roof to disguise it and allow it to blend into the surroundings. I love it.

A tea and biscuits break before tackling the parking area up the top. We put some food in the Dutch oven to warm up by the fire whilst we worked and six of us set off armed with spades, strimmers, pick axe, and chainsaw - it didn't take too long at all. Gave the Holly overhang a haircut, strimmed the brambles and rhodies back and dug out a few rotten tree stumps and bits of old wire etc., leveled it all off as best we could and before we knew it, we were left with just a single stubborn, fallen (but still living) tree with red roots (no idea). Ant and Raymond pulled the thing sideways to split it at the base and then Flee went on a mission to dig the remains free. Eventually the thing was hand-axed out and the hole filled in. By 5pm we had a fairly level and circular route to drive around. We tested it with the two Landys and then Tracey's car and decided we could probably get 15 cars in at a push - although we'd possibly have to pull a few of them out if it rains - but all in all a cracking days work.

Dutch Oven dinner was served; Cheese, Leek and Onion Jackets with home made curry fish-fingers to start, followed by Muntjac meatballs in a garlic and veg tomato sauce and tiger rolls to mop with. Only thing Ant and I forgot were bowls to eat it from! oops. We decamped from the newly finished kitchen and glugged wine and cider til half one, whilst watching the almost full moon sneaky peeking through the clouds above the clearing. Stunning.

Monday 
Slept a good 6 hours on the new A-frame bed, but was way too hot and was woken at 8am by Kenneth the second, (or "Ken-two" as Keith has now taken to calling him), flew past the tarps squawking at top volume. I got up and got the fire going again and the kettle on. Then promptly burnt six of my fingers onto the base of the storm kettle as I tried to turn it into the wind - totally not thinking - idiot. With no running cold tap, I ran to the stream and held them under for a good while (well until I got backache leaning over the bridge anyway). They are still pretty uncomfortable now, but I think I managed to cool them sufficiently to stop any major blistering.
Once everyone was up and about, Tracey cleaned, heated and then filled the large Hackman pan we got from a car boot sale with sausages and bacon and all was well again.
After our heroic efforts yesterday, we had already completed the weekends tasks and so sat back in the Sun for a lazy day of whittling, tea-drinking and contemplating the summer - it was bliss. Before we knew it, it was 4pm and time to pack up again ready for home and the chaos of packing, box-shifting and mundane reality. Still.... new bedroom to be built next weekend - very excited.