A cold and damp morning at Lyme Park - Sunday 14th December

Six of us met up with Chris, the Head Ranger at Lyme, for the last work day of 2025 on a cold and damp morning. He gave us a briefing on the job for the day, rhododendron destruction, but burning more than cutting. We would be working in Lantern Wood with Ranger Jason and three Youth Rangers.

Jason spent the first hour showing his trainees how to start a fire from scratch - a real challenge in the damp weather!
So we used the time to make already cut piles of brash more manageable for burning.

Jason managed to get a second fire going after a couple of hours, but it was a long drawn out effort due to the damp conditions and unpredictable winds.

Jack used his javelin throwing skills to load piles of brash without getting a face full of smoke.

The Youth Rangers left at 2 o’clock and we stayed with Jason feeding the two fires until 2:30. At three o’clock we put mesh fencing around the burning embers as warning to any walkers in the area.

The weather conditions made it a frustrating day. But it was still progress in the long job to clear the whole area of rhododendron, which Chris estimates is still a six years  long effort.

Chairmans Christmas Chat - What's in store for 2026

 My advent calendar tells me I'm edging closer to Christmas and a New Year. My bags are packed as are the presents as with 10 days off work, my family and I are heading down to Manchester for Christmas. Christmas Day will be spent at my Sisters house with my 3 year old niece Nancy. Nancy is very excited and I've been told she will open my presents for Me, how useful. Although being off for Christmas I will be back in work in time for New Year's Eve. No doubt Edinburgh Castle will be busy with lots of tourists looking for things to do to keep themselves entertained. With Christmas and New Year just around the corner I think it's time I told what's going in 2026 for MNTV, it's time to get your diaries out. 

Firstly we have 2 weekends planned for 2026; at the end of November 8 volunteers headed to Calke Abbey and had a fabulous weekend even if the weather was a bit dubious at times. The weekend was enjoyed so much that when I got home I emailed the Ranger Team there and asked to book in on 3rd to 6th July, however with restructuring going on at Calke, Vicky wasn't sure what would be going on there. She is becoming Lead Ranger for the Calke Estate which includes her current remit of Staunton Harold Reservoir so she would like to get herself settled in that role before saying yes, and asked me to get back in touch in March so watch this space.

Whilst we were at Calke we met up with Shropshire and Staffordshire NTVs (SSNTV) and they let us know that The Trust is rethinking its variety of its accomodation essentially getting rid of some of them which may mean that cheap weekends are a thing of the past. Having said that I did email Dylan and Lewis in Snowdonia and asked to book in for next winter, Friday 27th to Sunday 29th November, and although we don't know if we will be able to stay at Hendre Isaf basecamp they definitely want to have our help so whatever happens there will be a weekend. And don't forget you can join us on a weekend and not stay with us all, as Andy and Sarah did this year.

With weekends out of the way now let me tell you about the programme for 2026; the programme is I think complete, I'm still waiting for replies from a couple of Rangers but from January to Easter it is definitely confirmed, we spend a lot of time closer to home on these days. Your first workday is on 11th January at Alderley Edge. We are currently there 7 more times over the year. Our first longer distance day comes on 22nd March at Chirk Castle, Jean will be leading this day and it will be a joint workday with the Merseyside group (MENTV). This year we will have lots of chances to catch up with other groups like ours, as earlier this year the committee took a look at the volunteering figures for the last two years and we found that the trend was that further away properties were getting a lot less people than our local properties. The decision was taken to have more joint workdays this means that the Rangers can use their resources better and if they normally have a weekend off it's not wasted.

April and May bring us our first visits to Merseyside with joint workdays with MENTV and also a joint workday on 19th April to Erddig and on 31st May we travel to Biddulph Grange to meet up with Shropshire and Staffordshire NTV. We also have a visit to Alderley and Styal.

June brings us two more joint workdays the first being Hardcastle Crags with West Yorkshire NTV and another trip to Formby with MENTV. I also hope the group gets to visit Dunham in June, Dunham, are I think short of staff and are a little hesitant about booking in workdays as they are not sure of staffing numbers. Hopefully we will be back there more regularly soon.

Along with our potential weekend July also brings us joint workdays at Speke and Dunham with MENTV and a workday at Lyme.

August brings another joint workday with WYNTV at Hardcastle and hopefully a joint workday with MENTV at Erddig we also return to Hayfield after the nesting season. 

In September after 14 years away we return to Shugborough Hall for a joint workday with SSNTV we hope to get a great turn out just like they did for our workday at Calke Abbey we also have joint workdays with MENTV at Speke and Formby.

With Autumn now upon us October to December brings us closer to home with a mixture of workdays at Lyme, Alderley, Styal, Hayfield, hopefully Dunham Massey and our traditional trip to Biddulph to no doubt take out the Dahlias.

Your worksite leaders signed up for the first 3 months just this week and are eager to get back to it. If you fancy having a go at leading then talk to one of them about what it is they do and the benefits or perhaps the challenges and if after that you still fancy drop us an email and we will pair you up with an expert.

The programme may change a little so keep your whits about you and wait for the weekly email coming out before the workday. Some of these emails may just ask who is interested with no details of the task as different groups work differently and Rangers wanting to know how many people to expect before planning the task. The dates will be on the website in the New Year.

Right that's the workdays sorted...in April 2026 MNTV are turning 40, in August we sent you a save the date if you didn't get it then do let us know, we are celebrating on Saturday 13th June, at Lyme Park, Claire and Chris came up trumps with the location for us, we are very much looking forward to it. More details will be out in January. Along with having a party we wanted to celebrate by giving something back, with the help of the team at Alderley we will be planting a hedge, it'll be the MNTV hedge that we will look after in years to come. Tim and Issy at Alderley are very excited about this opportunity for them and us.

Earlier this year, as one of my first jobs as Chair, I bestowed Honourary Membership on Charlie Spiller and Hazel Pryor, they were very surprised and delighted to accept. As part of the Honourary Membership we gifted Charlie £30 gift vouchers for Chesters by the River which is a very lovely gifty shop and cafe close to where she lives at Elterwater Hostel, for Hazel we gifted £30 gift vouchers for National Trust. We hope they enjoy their gifts. I am planning on bestowing more Honourary Memberships next year, so watch this space. Below is Charlie enjoying a cuppa and a cake with some of her vouchers.

The committee has worked extremely hard this year adding 125.50 hours to the hours for the group which currently stands at 1536 hours for the year beginning January to December. The committee is a small select group but we are looking for new members to join us. We have a vacancy available for Social Media Officer please email the committee for more details. We also have opportunities for other roles if you think you can add anything to the group then please speak to one of the committee on a workday or send us an email. Your current committee is Jenny, Denise, Daniel, Adrian and Myself. Time spent on social media is up to you but we do ask that you join us for committee meetings which take place about every 7 weeks on Zoom for about 90mins.

As a member of the group if you partake in 50 hours or more of volunteering with the group then you are entitled to a supporter group card which gets you into NT properties in England and Wales for free and the majority of Scottish ones too. Your volunteer card also lets you gives you free entry to National Trust places and 20% discount on items you buy from our shops or cafés that cost more than £1 (except gift cards and stamps) and discount on National Trust holidays (including Historic House Hotels).There are also discounts at some high street shops, my particular favourite is Cotswold Outdoors. If you would like more details then email the committee to find out more.

Formby have been in touch to ask how many hours we have volunteered with them this year and with those figures they sent their volunteer impact report for 2025 and Manchester and Merseyside combined donated a total of 453 hours good work everyone. They also sent the Autumn and Winter Newsletter which has this gem in it. Blast from the Past - We recently discovered an un-opened packet of crispsfrom the 1980’s in the dunes! A fascinating find and striking reminder of how long litter lingers. Thank you for helping toprotect this special place by taking home everything you bring.

To finish off, we all no doubt tuck into our turkey or whatever we have for our Christmas dinner which we know we will be eating for days to come. Here's a poem to plan what to do with the leftovers.

The 12 Days of Turkey - Anon

On the first day of Christmas, my true love said to me

I'm glad we've bought a turkey and a proper Christmas tree.

On the second day of Christmas, much laughter could be heard

As we tucked into our turkey a most delicious bird.

On the third day of Christmas, we'd friends in from next door

The turkey tasted just as good as on the day before.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Gran came, she's rather old.

We finished up the Christmas pud and ate the turkey cold.

On the fifth day of Christmas, outside the snowflakes flurried

But we were nice and warm inside we ate the turkey curried.

On the sixth day of Christmas, the turkey spirit died.

The children fought and bickered and we ate the turkey fried.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave a wince

When he sat down to dinner and was given turkey mince.

On the eighth day of Christmas, the dog ran off for shelter

I served up turkey pancakes and a glass of Alka Seltzer.

On the ninth day of Christmas, poor Dad began to cry

He said he couldn't stand the strain of eating turkey pie.

On the tenth day of Christmas, the air was rather blue

And everybody grumbled at eating turkey stew.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, the Christmas tree was moulting

Mince pies as hard as rock and the turkey quite  revolting.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, at last Dad smacked his lips

The guests had gone, the turkey too - we dined on fish and chips! 

All that is left for me to say on behalf of the committee is have a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year.

Ally

Woodland work at Alderley Edge on Sunday 7th December 2025

Organising this Sunday was a breeze because the Ranger at Alderley was so organised she sent us photos of the work she wanted doing two weeks before the workday! She did think the workday was a week earlier, but still it’s the first time I’ve had photo instructions. Video next time?

Here is a sample of the photos:

So we started by collecting the tools from the shed. Luckily Jenny, our MNTV leader for the start of the day, had been at Alderley Edge during the week and had had training on how to use the winch. A big tree had come down across a path near the Wizard Tea Rooms so we used the winch to stabilise the tree whilst it was cut and to drag it off the path.

We drove round to the quarry off Mottram Road and had a look at the different tasks that needed to be done. In the (almost) dry weather we decided to start by cutting back the brambles to make a good path to the upper quarry field. We then moved the piles of brash that had been left (by us) last year to further under the trees, leaving the meadow more open.  It was good to see that not many new birch seedlings had appeared since last year.

We paused briefly for a drink and cake. The cake was loosely based on a bread pudding and incorporated some of the leftovers from last weekend at Calke Abbey (using up cheerios, fruit and fibre, bread rolls, milk, cream, apples and a bit of butter from the weekend all mixed with a jar of Christmas mince meat). It was delicious and has been christened “MNTV cake”.

The other nibble made from bacon covered in dark chocolate was deemed “edible but strange” and christened “Dead rats”. You can see why below - so not one to repeat.

We then moved swiftly on in the drizzle to the lower meadow and had to cut our way through brambles just to reach the worksite. The alternative path was too steep and slippery for us to carry the heavy equipment down. Once through to the meadow we headed for the patch of trees we had been asked to clear.

There was a sturdy tree nearby to anchor the winch to. A couple of people went round trimming the tops off the trees, leaving a waist high stump, ready to be winched.

The winch was time consuming to get set up but once it was all in place it made light work of pulling the trees up with hopefully enough root to stop regrowth.

Our intrepid leader and dubious culinary delights provider left early claiming she had to go and  sing at the Macclesfield Hospice "Light up a Life" service. Nothing to do with the rain I’m sure! Everyone else worked through lunch break as it was so wet - sustained by the chocolate bacon perhaps? We  packed up a little earlier than normal to go home, have some food and get warm and dry, returning the tools to the shed on the way.

Jenny

Christmas at Calke Abbey - 28th November - 1st December

The day is over, it's time to head to bed, it's been a long 5 days and an age since my last lot of annual leave. The holiday is here finally, my alarm is off as tomorrow it's baking and packing as I head to the Lake District on Friday for MNTV’s annual Christmas weekend, is what my Facebook tells in memories of 7 years ago.

It's Friday and you find me having done my baking and packing on a train heading for Derby as I travel to MNTV’s Christmas weekend at Calke Abbey. When first advertised it was a winter weekend but after a vote it was decided that it would be our Christmas Weekend, very early I know, but the members spoke! With a long train journey ahead of me and not sleeping to well I'm gonna kick back and relax maybe have a nap and I'll come back to You later…

4 hours and 20 mins later I reached Derby where I was met by Jenny who had picked up the shopping on route to meet Me. Once I had found her and put my bags into the car we made our way to Calke Abbey. The basecamp is at the end of the one way system through the park, so we had to tell the kiosk we were going to the Basecamp so we didn't have to show our volunteer cards. Upon arrival at the Basecamp we discovered Mary, her luggage and her 6 bottles of wine had just arrived. The Basecamp is basic with bunkbeds but with the number of people we had staying we all had bottom bunks. Upon arrival we discovered many flys in the ladies dormitory, they were everywhere, on the floor, the beds, the curtains, light fittings so we got the hoover out and started cleaning them up alive and dead ones….after settling in we awaited for the arrival of Jack, Sarah and Denise. Andy and Clare who were staying nearby in a NT Cottage, joined us to put up the tinsel and fairy lights. Sarah arrived at just before 6.30pm and shortly afterwards Sarah, Jenny, Mary and Myself headed by car to the local watering hole, The Milking Parlour. Andy, Clare and Jack had set off before us to walk. Once there we awaited for the arrival of Denise who had got caught in traffic. We hadn't just gone to the Milking Parlour for a drink, on a previous visit to Calke we had visited it and seen they cooked pizzas so we partook in the consumption of pizza, there were unusual flavours, Greek Lamb, Feta and Hot Honey was a winner as was Seasonal Roast Veggies and Herb Creamed “Cheese”, an interesting choice and very much enjoyed was Salt and Pepper Chinese Beef after the delicious food we headed back to base this time we all got a lift as we now had 2 cars with us. Upon return to basecamp we slowly headed to bed.

Saturday dawned wet, we breakfasted and prepared ourselves for the day ahead. Just before 10am Ranger Paul and Apprentice Ranger Holly joined us in the basecamp to introduce themselves and tell us a bit about the task. Jenny unfortunately wasn't able to join us, she was looking after a knee injury that had flared up, perhaps unfortunately isn't the right word with the weather we were going out into. 

Our worksite for the weekend was Staunton Harold Reservoir, willow coppicing, with some blackthorn thrashing thrown in for good measure. The bits of willow that we had coppiced were either to be made into 6-7 ft sticks for den building and the other was meant to be chipped but as the ground was so wet and not being able to get the chipper in position, Paul and the Team had to rethink, a dead fence to pretty up an old fence. It was a wet morning and we enjoyed our coffee and lunch break in the cafe which had very kindly said we could sit in there as it was so wet, it felt a bit odd eating cake we had made in a cafe that some very tasty cakes on offer, there were also real toilets which was a bonus. Having spent the morning working away, Denise and Sarah headed back to help Jenny with preparations for our dinner that evening. The rest of us carried on working and by the time we finished our days work at 4pm it had stopped raining, the sun made a brief appearance and we had seen a rainbow but it had turned colder.

Upon arrival back at Base I discovered that Sarah and Denise had made their way to the Christmas fair and lights trail which was located by the house so I decided a shower was needed and then I headed off to the festivities. Having a quick look round the Christmas Fair I found Denise and we went round the lights trail and watched the house lit up in many different colours. We also went under the house through the tunnels that were built for the servants to move goods around unseen, they were decorated for Christmas.

We found Sarah and headed back to  Basecamp, where we found Andy and Clare had joined us. Christmas Dinner had been expertly cooked by Jenny, we had Chicken, Pigs in Blankets, Roast Potatoes, Roast Parsnips, Carrots, Peas, Sweetcorn and Gravy, followed by Christmas Pudding and Brandy Sauce. We chatted and then went to bed as we were tired after a long day.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, we all left Base at 9.45 as we were due to meet Paul and Holly at Staunton Harold Reservoir Car Park at 10am, to carry on the day befores task, but today was extra special as we had Shropshire and Staffordshire NTV Group joining us. They had bought 12 volunteers with them, more volunteers means more work gets done, well that was the plan and it worked. When breaktime was called we produced our cakes and they produced their cakes. There were many different kinds, Victoria Sponge Cake, Orange and Sultana Cake, Banana, Date and Walnut Cake, Chocolate Brownies, Chilli Chocolate Brownies and Rice Crispie Mars Bar Cake. There were lots of whooping with the number of cakes available to try.

There was no room to sit in the cafe so we commandeered the picnic tables outside for our breaks. Mary left us after lunch to head home as she had plans for early Monday morning. The day was a day of blue skies, laughter, hard work and chatter. As the day drew to a close it was great to see the amount of willow we had coppiced, we hope the resident bird watcher is pleased. 

We said goodbye to SSNTV and headed for base where we dined on Chicken Curry, Rice and Naan, Sarah and Denise left us after dinner to head home and after washing up the evenings pans and crockery Andy and Clare left us too. That left Jenny, Jack and Myself, it had been a busy day, so the three of us headed to bed to relax get some kip.

On Monday morning we made sure we hoovered the basecamp, swept the floor, took down the Christmas Decs and packed up the food then headed for home. Jack left first, Jenny and I left shortly afterwards and called in at Kedleston Hall to see it decked out for Christmas. As we were heading in the hall we met Andy and Clare who had had the same idea as us. We very much liked the decorated Christmas Trees. My particular favourite was turquoise and blue ribbons.

It was a long journey home for me, I travelled in style having upgraded myself to First Class and got back to Edinburgh at 8pm.

It was a fantastic weekend with great chat, fabulous banter and great food. I’m very glad I had an extra day at home today as it is now Tuesday night and all the washing is done and I’m back to work tomorrow.

It was great to meet another group like ours, we hope this will be an ongoing arrangement going forwards. We hope to join SSNTV at Shugborough Hall this Summer.

Removal of red osier dogwood at Quarry Bank Mill on Sunday 23rd November 2025

Nine of us met up with Ceara before walking to South Wood to begin the task of cutting down and stacking red osier dogwood.  No, I  didn't know what it was either and had to ask good old Google!  It is a non-native species that grows prolifically and seems, once established, like rhodi to tangle itself.

We started around the mill pond, disturbing a heron that was stood minding its own business, stacking all the cut shoots by a tree that had come down in storm Claudia.  Ceara asked if we could help to move the tree, so once brew finished we set to loading up the trailer using straps to help carry the big pieces, between four people, as well as cutting some into more manageable sizes and dragging as much as we could out of the pond.

That was hard work not made any easier by the downpours that kept up all day.  There is still some to move because they need a chainsaw on them.

Finally back to the dogwood which was further down the woods along the riverbank.

Thank you to Ceara for a good workday and especially thanks to my colleagues for all their hard work in the most inclement weather.

Christine

Birch clearing and rhodybashing at Lyme Park on Sunday 9th November 2025

We had a great day at Lyme Park today working on two tasks in Lantern Wood.

The first was clearing birch in a sight line from the Lantern in a roughly southerly direction which was completed.

The second task was rhodybashing and burning, where the area we were working on was a good bit up the hill from the Lantern.

There is still however a few years left of bashing required to clear the wood of rhody.  The rangers were very happy with all our efforts.

Martin

Halloween at Biddulph Grange Gardens

You find me on my way home to Edinburgh I'm currently on train bound for York as with the West Coast Main Line is closed between Preston and Carlisle due to a train derailment at Shap, in the early hours of this morning I'm heading for the East Coast Line.

I was in Manchester to join the group for a workday at Biddulph Grange Gardens. I was joined by 8 others on a chilly but sunny Sunday morning, for our annual task for taking out the Daliahs. This task involves cutting down the Daliahs, taking out the stakes which we had put in earlier in the year, making sure to keep a hold of the labels so that they can be tied on to the tubular and then put in a crate with other plants of the same name. There were names such as Boom Boom Yellow, Edinburgh, Purple Gem and Golden Sceptre. Some of the Dahlias were still looking good but it was time for all of them to come out.

Before we started we were asked if anyone wanted to cut a bunch of Daliahs for the cafe so I offered…you can see my arrangement below.

We had our coffee break at outside tables that belonged to the cafe and although it was in the shade and a little chilly it was great to be able to enjoy being outside with nature, Robin Redbreast joined us in the hope of getting some crumbs leftover from our Mr Kipling cakes Sue had provided. 

Work carried on and some of the daliah beds were in sunshine which was actually quite warm and others were in the shade and coats were needed. But we worked away at our different tasks wherever we were. Lunch was eaten near to the worksite some of us in the sunshine others not. It did make me smile that out side the gardens was a sign that said no picnics and there we were eating our picnics. Whilst working we had been passed by many visitors asking for advice about Daliahs also saying how much they had enjoyed seeing them on previous visits. We even got asked about the group, hopefully they will join us on future workdays. 

Many of the visitors to the gardens were families on the look out for Halloween related objects, we found this chap working hard near the truck and trailer where we were putting the cut off dahlias, he was dead pleased to see us as his heart was no longer in it. His name badge told us he was called Albert Spinestein....

We finished our day at about 3.15pm we didn't quite manage to take out all the Daliahs but Gardeners Holly and Jack were delighted with what we had got done.

Afterwards Sue, Jean and I went in search of a Red Maple Tree in the China Garden, Sue had been told about. It was fabulous to see, particularly with the colours of the Chinese Garden.  

Sue and I also followed a sign I had seen on the way in, it was an arrow with Kitchen Garden painted on so we went exploring....

Thanks to everyone who joined Me we had a great day...and yes I made it back to Edinburgh