A residential weekend away in the Peak district. Our accommodation
for the 2 nights was a bunk barn on
Thorpe Farm near Hathersage. This was a cosy little place tucked
away well off the beaten track that took all our navigation skills to find.
Ten of us managed to find our way there on Friday and settled in for the
night.
The next morning we set off for the worksite, the DeepDale Nature Reserve
about 12 miles away. Part of Deep Dale is owned by the Charity
Plantlife and we met up with Joe Costley, the reserve manager to work on
the site along with some local volunteers. We walked about a mile up
the dale from the carpark which was hard work in itself as the path was a
mass of slippery mud after all the recent rain.
The work was to clear some of the small scrub, mostly Hawthorn, from the
steep side of the dale. This involved clambering along the steep slope
cutting down the scrub as close to the ground as possible and then leaving
it there to mark the spot, so the stump could be treated with industrial
strength Roundup. The plan was to have a bonfire at the foot of the slope,
but the ground and material was very wet and a strong wind was blowing down
the dale making it hard even to keep a match lit, let alone get the fire
going, so I abandoned that idea, particularly as most of the cut scrub had
to wait on the slope until its stump had been treated!
As
the day wore on, the weather improved and we worked steadily along the dale
cutting as we went. As the light faded, we headed back to Thorpe Farm for an
enjoyable evening in, Dinner was a wonderfully varied selection of homemade
pizzas, dough freshly prepared and accompanying homemade coleslaw followed
by an excellent cheesecake. Thanks to Laura for the pizzas and Lucy for the
cheesecake.
The next morning it was back to Deep dale to continue the work and start
moving some of the cut scrub down the hill ready to be burnt by contractors
who were coming in to tackle the bigger stuff at a later date. Gathering the
hawthorn in ever larger bundles and encouraging it to hurtle down the steep
slope made for some exciting avalanches of scrub. Unfortunately, the weather
deteriorated and the rain set in by lunchtime. Negotiating the steep
slopes and muddy tracks was tricky enough without persistent rain making
life less than enjoyable, so we decided to abandon the site by about 2pm.
The worksite and accommodation were both excellent, as was the company so it
was an enjoyable task, spoilt only by the rather miserable weather.
Julian