Llandre 24-03-2012

For the last official task of the semester the ACV gang headed to Llandre, a familiar task for many of us, however, this task had many new faces for Llandre!  Arriving bright and early at the church car park the day looked promising with the sun already baking overhead.  Roger, the faithful secretary for Llandre Heritage, gave a quick history talk about the area before showing us to site we’d be working on.

Clearing brambles from this sight ^^, which had been pretty much taken over by it and creating more defined footpaths was the aim of the task.

BEFORE

                                                        AFTER

In usual ACV style the task was almost finished in no time at all, so half of the group moved on to attack brambles on a horrendously steep bank.

Thanks to all the volunteers who gave up there gloriously sunny Saturday to help out! If you'd like to know more about Llandre visit there website http://www.llandre.org.uk/

- Steph James

Old Chapel Farm Residential 17th/ 18th March 2012

Another cracking weekend working in the woods and enjoying the hospitality of Kevin and Fran at Old Chapel Farm.

Really busy atmosphere at Old Chapel as we were not alone in the woods, there were a  few people staying the weekend to plant trees, a group of woofers who were currently staying at the farm and then the local Bodgers (Green woodworkers) group were up at the woods that weekend too.

Main task for the weekend was continuation of the paths through the wood, after a customary tea break we were all needed to lift a felled tree and get it in place as a roof beam for a wood store that was under construction in one the quarried out recesses next to the hut and camp fire. Once this was done we set to work on the paths clearing a good section with our trusty mattocks before stopping for lunch.

After lunch another tree was felled and again lifted into place, whoever came up with the expression many hands make light work clearly hasn’t lifted a felled tree before. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent putting in a few steps along the path and bit a down time carving and chatting to the Bodgers about green wood working and having a little go at a few simple crafts as well. Come sunset it was back to the farm for a delicious vegan curry, some pleasant conversation and a fair few glasses of home-made wine before bed.

Sunday started much the same with us getting on with the paths in the morning and finishing a good few sections of steps then after lunch, some continued with the paths while a few more were roped into help with the roofing on the wood store. Come mid-afternoon in typical welsh fashion the beautiful sunshine was unexpectedly replaced with a ten minute hail storm which had everyone running for cover. The rest of the afternoon was taken at a leisurely pace with a lot of conversation round the camp fire before it was back to the farm for farewell tea and cake and a longer than expected 5 minute walk to see the cows and cob in one of the lower fields.

Great weekend as always at Old Chapel thoroughly enjoyed by all!

Edward Bell (First year)

C.A.T Residential (Centre for Alternative Technology) 25-02-12 & 26-02-12

The first residential of the new semester was working at the Centre for Alternative Technology, just past Machynlleth – a first for ACV thanks to Alex.

Saturday

On first arriving, Grace, one of the biologists at C.A.T, gave us a guided tour around the areas we would be working in, showing us what she wanted us to achieve and teaching us so much about the different types of trees around us! Then – of course – we got down to the serious business of tea drinking, before starting on thinning out one compartment of woodland, which was so dense we could barely see each other.  We were given instructions to have fifteen foot centres, which meant your centre tree should have a fifteen foot diameter of space around it to ensure the trees, specifically oaks, were given the best environment by providing more light and space and taking away their bigger competition. So began the relentless axing, chopping and pruning!! Once felled, we were snedding (stripping the side shoots and branches off the tree with a billhook) and moving the trees to the road.  Tired and covered in tree sap, we retreated to a homely youth hostel in Corris.

Sunday

Refreshed, we continued our assault on the section of woodlands we’d began working on, on Saturday but this time with the help of Rob, from C.A.T, and his friend Johan.  We also branched out (sorry) into coppicing birch trees to make fascines, rough birch brash bundling, which we used to cover boggy, muddy tracks to create beautiful, bouncy paths!! 

Before                                              After

Among the day’s events Nelis felled a 30ft Western Hemlock, which turned out to only be eight years old!!  This goes to prove our work that weekend was extremely beneficial as Western Hemlocks are not native to the British Isles and quite easily outcompete our own trees.

Llanerchaeron 3-3-12

This week the ACV gang rocked up to the National Trust site Llanerchaeron, but unfortunately, due to car trouble, the leader for the day couldn’t get to us.

So instead, we had a walk through the woods, which Ally, Ben and Nathan quickly turned into a woodland war. Tribes and characters were formed, pinecones were lovingly hurled, and we all had a good giggle.

We then took a detour on the way back to Aberystwyth and sat on a blustery beach while Ally tried to light the Kelly kettle for what felt like hours. Eventually she was lit, and we all had a cup of char before returning home.

OH AND WE SAW A DOUBLE RAINBOW!