A winter job - Hedge Laying

On Sunday a team of 10 enthusiastic volunteers laid a 22 yard section of hawthorn hedge at the side of the A56 near Little Bollington, part of the Dunhamn Massey Estate. It was wet if not raining all day but that didn't dampen the spirits, most of us now know how to use billhooks, our pleachers may not have been smooth and we did coppice a few plants by accident but the resulting hedge looked mighty impressive by the end of the day. We consumed home made Christmas cake and two of our more experienced volunteers did an excellent job demonstrating the art of this old craft.

PS we did pick up all the tools including the one in the bottom of the photo!

Digging / Pruning at Biddulph Grange

6 Volunteers turned out on the 13th - and spent the day digging and pruning at Biddulph Grange Garden, followed by a meal at a local pub.

I'll get the cooking time right one day

We had 9 people out near Hayfield on Sunday(6th Jan) continuing a long term project to remove Rhodi from the moor.

I lit a second small fire to cook some potatoes - if we to do this again I'll need to build a slightly bigger fire, or cook fewer potatoes. I had the last two pots for my supper having cooked two spares, they seemed to go down well even if they did take a long time to arrive.

Good weather - a steady breeze to make the smoke predictable and sun shine always makes for a good day.