We have adopted the Wildlife Trusts’ idea of the Green Gym - periodically we set aside a day and invite friends to spend any or all of it helping with a variety of tasks. This is not the same as magna praecaria: ‘A day on which feudal tenants, on demand, performed harvest work for the lord of the manor’, although volunteers may feel it has some resonance. A communal picnic is an essential element. The day can produce not only tangible results, but also fresh ideas to consider. It’s amazing how genuinely grateful people seem to be for ending up dirty, tired, wet, cold, scraped, scratched, stung and aching. 

We have had help to brash trees, haul the brash out, feed the brash into a chipper, gapping dry stone walls, digging dams for the wet area, planting trees, planting wild flower plugs, felling and logging trees, building fences, building sheds, clearing ground for pathways, edging pathways, tipping chip on to paths, digging field drains and soakaways, and clearing rush from the wildflower meadow. 

We are hugely grateful for all this help.

Click here to read blog posts about our green gym days.