Sunday 24 February 2013

Hare Hill gardens - Sunday 24th Feb 2013

It always feels a bit special when you have the opportunity to work on part of a NT property that "isn't open to the public" and today was no exception. The gardens at Hare Hill do not 'open' until 9th March but seven of us, together with Peter the assistant gardener, were there today continuing a huge project to open up and replant around the pond close to where people pass when walking between Hare Hill and Alderley Edge.


A lot of "Rhodi" that had been around the perimeter of the pond had already been removed and the pond had been dredged of all the years of silt, leaves and rubbish that had fallen or been dumped into it.

When we arrived, we firstly removed some "Rhodi" roots that hadn't already been dug out and shifted some huge "Rhodi" roots to another part of the garden. We then spent the rest of the day wheel-barrowing the silt, soil and semi-composted leaves that had been dredged from the pond over to the other side and level the ground so it was suitable for replanting at some point in the future. We found amongst the silt lots of pieces of broken glass, broken china, pieces of slate and stones which we removed and put to one side.

It was 'hard, manual graft' but a really enjoyable day; crisp, clear but incredibly cold - it even tried to snow on us a couple of times! It was fantastic being outside on such a lovely day:-)

I was going to be cheeky and say that the multi-tasking hare was a great asset to the group, but that would have been unfair on everyone who worked so hard on the day!!!

Saturday 23 February 2013

Ceilidh at Poynton - Sat 23rd Feb 2013

Five of us 'tripped the light fantastic' on Saturday evening at the Poynton Ceilidh - or Barn Dance as Ally preferred to call it!

Although we weren't quite sure whether we'd enjoy ourselves, once we plucked up courage to join in, we had a fantastic time. Between us we must have taken part in most of the dances, sometimes going wrong, sometimes causing chaos amongst our fellow dancers, but having a real laugh every time.

In fact the evening livened up a couple of our group so much that they had the energy to go late-night drinking in Hazel Grove afterwards - well done Phil and Allie:-)

Friday 22 February 2013

Rhodi at Dunham Massey 17 Feb 2013

Seven volunteers turned out to Dunham Massey and returned to Headsman's Covet (a patch of woodland just outside the wall of the deer park).  We have been cutting and burning "Rhodi" on and off in this area for some time and it looks very different now compared to a few years ago...
Before

This time the instructions were slightly different - with all the wet weather this year the farmer has concluded that he needs to do some work on a drainage channel that runs through the woodland and probably under the wall into the park - and out via either the moat or island pool.  So we were asked to concentrate on a 5m strip beside the channel so that a machine can be brought in to clear it out.

The weather was bright but there was some breeze and it had a bit of bite to it, however a few days of dry weather and a couple of dead "rhodi" plants gave the fire a good start... Shortly before lunch I noticed the fire was starting to migrate down wind and asked the team to only feed the upwind half - soon we had half a fire! 
Forcing a fire slowly up wind - half fire

With some care we nursed it through this stage - and managed to burn almost everything that we had cut without the fire moving from where we wanted it to be..

This left an open strip most of the way to the wall - though someone will have to go back with a winch or tractor to remove the roots.....
After

Sunday 10 February 2013

10th February - hedgelaying at Alderley Edge

Four hardy souls spent today at Alderley Edge laying a 10 metre section of blackthorn/hawthorn hedge from beside the site of the icecream van to the main access track to the Edge.  The cold temperature (+2C), spotty rain and icy wind kept us on the move and we were glad to get a bonfire going.


Matt, our hedgelaying expert, did all the laying while Ally and Daniel pruned brash on the field side of the hedge and Adrian stoked the fire.  We had lunch in our cars or beside the fire and spent some time in the afternoon chatting to the NT Recruiting Officer beneath his awning near the icecream van (Mr Granelli had appeared after lunch and amazingly, despite the cold weather, did sell some icecreams during the afternoon!!).  Chris Widger (Property Manager) met us when we started at 9:30 and gave us hedging stakes and kindling for the fire.  He was impressed that we stuck at it until 15:30 given the weather conditions!

Monday 4 February 2013

Work day at Hayfield 3rd Feb 2013

Eight MNTVers plus 3 National Trust Rangers plus their 3 dogs had a great day at Hayfield despite the fine drizzle that continued until lunchtime!!
Arriving and contemplating the work

We worked on a 'new' wooded area, some of which was only planted 12 or 13years ago. It was on a slope so we had to be careful not to slip on the wet undergrowth or trip over bramble runners and roots.
We had 3 tasks to do - a couple of us went round the wood removing tree guards/sleeves that were too tight on some of the tree trunks and breaking off or pulling up any surplus stakes.
Others of us cut down some young trees (identified with red paint by one of the NT Rangers) which were either non-native to the UK or were growing too close to other established trees.
The rest of us cut down established rhododendrons or pulled up smaller plants - it was a shame we couldn't burn them as we like to do, instead we just had to cut it and leave it where it was.
at the end of the day
A great workday which included some lovely home-made fruit cake, baked by one of our members:-)

It was odd to be cutting down some of the trees that were planted on the day I first went out with the MNTV group - "some" years ago.  

Apparently the bundles of Birch/Oak and Hawthorn we planted were contaminated with a few saplings that didn't really belong - but that only became obvious some years later.  So the "Turkey oak", "Snakebark Maple, and another Maple (Norway?) trees have been cut down - which should give the others the opportunity to take over. - Gordon