Father forgive me; it has far too long since my last blogpost! However, after today's fantastic visit to Croome, National Trust; Landscape, Park and House, I felt I had to put finger to keyboard and let everyone know!

This visit was our exchange visit from when the very talented Katherine and Hugh (who manage the massive grounds at Croome Park) came for a bus-mans holiday and did a days volunteering with us last month down at Coopers Mill, Wyre Forest.

Croome was owned in the 18th century by the 6th Earl of Coventry, who commissioned the then relatively unknown Lancelot Brown, (later know as Capability Brown) to develop the magnificent park and landscape surrounding the 'big house'. Brown, along with Robert Adam were also engaged to develop the property itself.

Hugh and Katherine took us around the grounds surrounding Croome Court. The landscape is vast and varied and has something to please everyone including the fantastic walks along the 'faux' river (said to be a scale version of the River Severn). This 'river' was completely man made and of Brown's design and took some ten years to dig out and create! Fancy that as a job! But those ten years were certainly well spent as the resulting twists and turns of the 'river' with its lakes and bridges and numerous surprises around every turn, will have you interested from start to finish as they did us.

Katherine and Hugh showed us the many tree and plant varieties that were still in existence from back in the day as well as the species planted since it's restoration by the dedicated team of Croome staff and volunteers, to bring the parkland back to how it would have been originally. It was interesting to see Ginkgo trees as well as varieties of oaks and also privet, which when allowed to grow naturally produces delicate white flowers with a beautiful fragrance.

We followed the river round and came to the house itself which is steeped with layers of history, not just from the Earl's days in the 18th century but also it's varied and colourful uses over the subsequent decades. I won't say any more because you really HAVE TO go and see it for yourself to fully appreciate what the house offers.

I cannot recommend it highly enough and hope that we have many more visits to Croome still to come. Next time though, we'll be rolling up our sleeves and helping out with the list of never-ending jobs and projects that Hugh and Katherine and the volunteers undertake to ensure Croome is enjoyed by everyone both now and in the future. Here is a link to get details of where they are:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/croome/

A massive thank you to Katherine and Hugh from us all at the WWP for a wonderful day at Croome.

Coopers Mill work contiues

The Coopers Mill fencing job is still going strong, with the whole gang digging holes, preparing posts, rails and pails. Thanks especially to the dedication and hard work of two WWP members particulalry; Gary and Graham, who have devoted their services for extra days of work voluntarily to ensure that the fence work really takes shape. I hope you'll agree that it looks fantastic. I'm looking forward to doing some more work on it this Friday.

Last time we were at Coopers Mill a lovely big heron swooped in and landed in the shallows of Dowles Brook. Unfortunately we weren't quick enough to get a photo but i'm hoping that he may come and join us again this week and if the local kingfisher turns up too that would be great.

Bullock Proof!

Good evening blogland. I'd like to tell you all about a wonderful Friday the guys at WWP had last week. We had a days instruction on the ancient art of hedge laying. Our tutor for the day was none other than the infamous Wade Muggleton, all round woodland skills expert. We accessed the training through the Wyre Community Land Trust, who Working in partnership with the forestry commission and Natural England, would like to replace as many fences as possible with laid hedge fencing.

Wade first taught us why this art exists. Hedge laying is the ancient skill of converting a natural growing hedge in to a functional fence that will keep live stock in its field. It's said that the fence must be strong enough to contain a bullock!

There are many variations on the laid hedge, depending on the geographical area you are working in, but as we are in the Midlands, the style of hedge we learnt to lay was the 'Midland Style'.

Wade talking the group through the methods and purpose of the laid hedge.

Then it was up to us to get stuck in an have a go.

Dan and Gary using Bill hooks to pleach hazel rodes. Pleaching is the process of part cutting through trees and saplings growing in the hedge which allows them to be pushed over and will remain growing at a 30 degree angle along the hedge row.

Ian receiving instruction from Wade on how to weave in the heathering. These are 2 hazel rods bound together over the stakes which tie the whole hedge together creating a firm top to the fence.



Coopers Mill continued........

It was all hands on deck and full production mode today with all of the WWP gang getting stuck into continuing our fencing project for Natural England . We were joined today by Mark the new Occupational Therapist from Shrub Hill Workshop. He wanted to come and experience what it was like to be a part of the WWP so that he can know what he is recommending to his clients. I knew by the end of the day he'd be busy planning how he'd be able to get out and work with us again! Such is the addictive effect of the WWP. Anyway, Mark agreed that the satisfaction of the work involved along with the beautiful setting and of course, wonderful company, makes for an extremely therapeutic environment.

So order of the day was some hole digging, which the able and willing Dan and Ian set to work on. Graham and Gary got back to work on the fence they started on Wednesday. Mark found a home on the shave horse and Mike and me.....well we put the kettle on and milled about a bit.

First bit of fence

Mike, Graham and Gary met up today to start planning out and erecting the first run of fencing down at Coopers Mill. It looks fantastic so far. The rest of the gang will be down at the Mill Friday to carry on with digging out of holes and erecting more posts.

Coopers Mill

The WWP were delighted when asked to produce 30 metres of traditional park pale fencing around Coopers Mill. This came about when Saul Herbert, Reserve Manager for Natural England visited Uncllys Farm to speak with John Illes, Wyre Community Land Trust and saw our demo piece of park pale fencing that flanks the entrance to our camp at Uncllys Farm, Wyre Forest.

The wood we are using to make the fence is oak and all sourced from the Wyre Forest, which of course keeps the carbon footprint of the fence to a minimum. The request from Natural England was that the fence should be made using traditional green wood working skills, to a traditional method and from locally sourced materials.

This picture shows Mike cleaving out the pales (the vertical sections of the fence)

The next picture shows Graham and Dan using wedges and a mallet to produce the rails (the horizontal sections which the pales attach to. Each rail is approximately 2.5metres long.

Below is Ian preparing the rails using a draw knife. This makes them much smoother and more pleasing to the eye. It also removes the layer of sap wood which is the layer just beneath the bark, which will rot over time if not removed.

Below shows Graham chiseling out the mortise joints that the rails will fit into.

The group took advantage of the opportunity of an overnight stay at the Mill. The Mill is actually owned by Birmingham City Council and is used by many community groups for activity days and short breaks.

These guys deserved their warm by the wood burner and a nice cuppa.

The following morning a full English breakfast and a healthy discussion on who snored the loudest last night were enjoyed by all! Then it was time to don the boots again and get back to work on preparing our fence.

Woodland Walk

As usual the masters of the camp-fire Gary and Graham had made sure that the rest of us arrived to a roaring fire. They also had some lovely news about some busy winter activity that had been going on inside our 'tree bog'.

We don't know if it is a mouse or a dormouse but whoever it is we rather liked it and of course left it undisturbed.

Due to the weather being uncertain today we had a shortened day. So after our cuppa we headed out into the woods for a walk. We work such a small area of woodland in comparison to the actual 35 acres it covers! We were soon noticing the tell tale signs of deer having been on the same trail very recently. The snow covering the ground made this easier as the little brown deposits showed up much more! Our tracking paid off dividends though when quite by accident we spotted 3 roe deer dart out from some trees and across a field in front of us. Evidently they spotted us too! so although a brief glimpse it was nonetheless beautiful. We carried on our walk but didn't manage to see them again.

Back at the campfire we had some lunch and a chat about our up-coming schedule at Coopers Mill.

Tree Felling by Axe

 It was a chilly start this morning but thankfully, on my arrival, Graham and Gary had started a welcoming campfire which we hurriedly stood around awaiting the arrival of the rest of the gang. Over a warming cuppa we discussed the day and were soon walking off into the woods to learn another new skill.

This week Chris Atkins demonstrated tree felling using an axe. The group watched as he explained the first steps, which is always your personal safety; things like your position, clearing your immediate area of debris and unusually removing gloves. Unlike a lot of greenwood working jobs, using an axe is best done glove free as your grip is much better. Chris then demonstrated which cuts you make, where and why.

We were all then able to have a go, under his close instruction, at what is possibly one of the hardest of the greenwood workers tasks.

Ian was the man to have the final swings that felled a very large tree, with Jim accurately predicting the exact site it would land. We all agreed that it was really satisfying.

We then continued with the coppicing, finishing off the stools we started last week and tackling some new ones too. Mike tried a new method of covering the stools today by making a frame of lengths of branches weaved together with thinner hazel, used to keep the deer from nibbling off the new hazel shoots.

Things are beginning to look very different in the woods now and it actually turned out to be a fresh bright day. The bluebell leaves have sprung up all over and I for one cannot wait to see them when they bloom.

Chainsaw

Dan would like to learn how to use a chainsaw one day, if he passes all his Health & Safety Assessments.

Old Friends and New

Another glorious and satisfying day today at Churchill Wood with the WWP gang. Our newest member of the gang Dan has settled in so well already it's like he's always been with us. Same goes for his great support worker Jim. Well despite the cold we all got stuck into some coppicing today. Coppicing has been used in woodlands for thousands of years. It allows light into the lower layers of the woodland canopy, which enables plants, such as wildflowers to grow; in turn these wildflowers provide food for birds, insects and mammals.

Gary and Graham very ably assisted Chris on the chainsaw and made short work of getting some massive trees to the ground - gotta love them tree fellas - get it?....tree fellers....three fellas.....Irish accent?....oh, forget it, my humour is wasted here! Anyway, the rest of us led by Mike, our trusty leader, made short work of several 'stools' - cutting back lengths of hazel, which we use for weaving and chair making and is an important part of the woodland management. This ensures that the hazel continues for centuries, as it has already in this ancient woodland. A real priviledge to be a part of.

Next week our new boy Dan has threatened us with   promised us a curry made by his own fair hands! I'll hopefully be back next week to report how well it went down. great to see him getting so stuck in. Thanks and welcome to the WWP Dan.

well before i sign out, I haven't forgotten that this post is titled 'Old Friends and New'. I've talked about our new friends Dan and Jim but wanted to also to take the opportunity to say how we miss our 'old' friends Chris and Martin and all look forward to getting them back where they belong really soon. it's their turn to make the tea you see :)