Rhodybash at Gawthorpe Hall on Sunday 16th April 2023

Six of us met in the car park at 9:45 before walking round to meet ranger Joe Karakousis in front of the hall.

Joe explained he would like to be leaving for 2pm as it is Greek Easter this weekend and as he has Greek ancestry wanted to spend it with his family in Yorkshire.  So, we all walked up the drive to an area of woodland which had quite a bit of rhod growing.  The need for wellington boots soon became obvious as it was very wet in places.  The area we were working had formerly had a tramline running through it which was for the transportation of coal as there were a quite a number of coal mines in the area.

As it was in theory a short day we worked through until noon and just had a lunch break with the obligatory cake of course, but saying that we did make quite an impact on the rhody.  There was a slight hiccup as we came across a couple of bird nests so covered them back up with cuttings and moved to work elsewhere.

Joe left us at 2 and we started to clear things up, gather our tools and walk back down to the cars.

We had a good work day and Joe was very accommodating and has invited us back any time.  Thanks to my colleagues for their hard work and good company. 

Christine

Balsam bashing at Gawthorpe Hall on Sunday 10th July 2022

Today five of us made the journey to Gawthorpe Hall which is just on the outskirts of Padiham near Burnely.  It was to have been six but unfortunately Hazel Longton, a former MNTV colleague who has recently moved to this area, was going to join us but tested positive for covid this morning so didn't make it.

We met Kayleigh the ranger, who joined Gawthorpe last August and is the sole ranger at the site, before making our way to the work site.  As we were walking Kayleigh was telling us how much the balsam had taken hold in places due to the lock down and not having volunteers to help clear it.

It was quite a large area of dense balsam and in some areas it was quite marshy.  We set to and started pulling and breaking and crushing as much as we could in the time that we had and apart from Andy H getting stung by a bee we had a really good day.  Kayleigh was more than made up with the difference we had made and couldn't believe how much we had cleared.

As a reward for our endeavours we had a tour of the hall.  It is such a beautiful place built in 1601 and it had remained in the Shuttleworth family until the 1960s when unfortunately due to the two world wars direct descendants had either been killed or died and the heir, being a cousin who already had an ancestral home, left it to the National Trust but still has some say in its running.  The hall itself is on lease to Lancashire Council so is not run by the Trust.

We had a lovely day, thankfully shaded from the sun as it was rather warm!  Thank you to Kayleigh for her hospitality and giving us the chance to view the hall and thank you to my colleagues for their hard work.

Christine 

Balsam and Rhody-regrowth bashing at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley on Sunday 11th July 2021

It was another day of Balsam bashing, along with some Rhody-regrowth bashing, in a beautiful location that we have only recently had the opportunity to revisit - Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley.

Gawthorpe Hall

Nine of us met Ranger Nik and his long-time volunteer Jeff in the staff car park by the Hall. They first showed us the Bothy and the walled garden where we had worked a couple of years ago, which had become overgrown during Lockdown. It seems to have been a mixed blessing as it has encouraged many more butterflies and bee's to visit the garden, so much so that there are plans to retain some of the wild flowers when they start getting on top of the work needed in there again.

Our tasks today were to tackle an area covered with Himilayan Balsam (amongst nettles and brambles!) and try and eradicate as much of it as possible before it could spread it's seeds, as it was already starting to flower. There was also an area of Rhododendron Ponticum which had previously been cut down, but was starting to regrow and needed cutting back again.

We split into two groups and tackled one task each group. 

When it came our usual morning break-time, we sadly realised that because our rucksacks had been locked in the Bothy for safety and to save us having to carry them with us, we needed Nik to unlock the Bothy for us. Unfortunately he and Jeff had been called off site to do a quick job, which turned into a long job, so we couldn't reach our coffee and cake!

Once Nik and Jeff returned, we had an early lunch and chat as Nik told us all about the current restoration work they are doing on Holcombe Moor: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/projects/restoring-holcombe-moor

Lunch time:-)

It was really fascinating to hear and, as Nik proudly showed us an areal photo which had been taken of the bunds, he told us that we may see more about it on the TV in the coming weeks. I decided to do a quick internet search when I got home, and I found this link that you may find interesting to watch: https://manchesterlocal.tv/news/restore-the-moor-improving-holcombe-moor-peatland/

Sue's happy - she's about to destroy her first flowering Balsam of the season!

After tearing ourselves away from Nik's tales, we went back to our tasks, some swapped groups to have a change of scene and we finished our day around 3pm. We're certainly looking forward to returning to Gawthorpe Hall or maybe work next time on Holcombe Moor:-)

Photo's from Adrian and Sue

Strimming and clearing in walled garden at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley 6th Oct 2019

Five of us (Christine, Sue, Andy H, Andy S and Tim) travelled to Burnley today to our first workday, we believe, in the grounds of Gawthorpe Hall. We met Nik, the Ranger, in the car park which is shared with Burnley Football Club (fortunately there wasn't a home match on) to discuss what we would be doing as the forecast was showing rain, on and off, all day.
We piled into Nik's Toyota Hilux pick-up and he drove us to the Ranger's workshop and Bothy, where we were offered a cup of tea while Nik told us a bit about Gawthorpe Hall. We warmed ourselves in front of the log-burner whilst sitting on proper wooden chairs with seat pads - true luxury!! Christine (so now 2 Christine's and 2 Andy's!), the other 'Gawthorpe and Stubbins Estates' Ranger, arrived to join us.

A great start to the day:-)

Mainly because of the expected poor weather, and the fact it was Open Heritage Day so the Hall and surrounding area were likely to be busy, we decided to continue the Gawthorpe volunteers work of strimming and raking up the native weeds in the walled garden behind the Bothy. Nik has found, by doing this, the weeds are more likely to return stronger next year, providing a great habitat for butterflies. The piles of weeds would be removed at a later date by the Gawthorpe volunteers.

Starting slashing and raking the weeds

After walking over the area to check no hedgehogs were hiding in the undergrowth which could get injured!, Nik started up his petrol strimmer whilst the rest of us either used slashers or rakes to gather the weeds into large piles. It was hot work so we were regularly taking off our coats and fleeces when we got warm, only to put them on again when the rain came!

End of the day by one of the many 'piles' of weeds we created

Rangers Nik and Christine were very pleased with what we'd achieved by the end of the day and, as we piled back into Niks Hilux (we could only all get in because MNTV's Christine offered to ride in the back - literally!!), we returned to the car park to collect our cars.
We had a brilliant day - not only a new venue but Nik and Christine made us feel so welcome that we will definitely be back next year!!

MNTV Christine ready for the trip back to the car park!