Summer Residential - Cumbria
From the 24th to the 27th of June, the old SUCV committee went up to Millbeck Towers in the Lake District for the last residential of the year. 10 of us drove up to the town of Keswick located on the Derwentwater Lake. We were going to join the National Trust Ranger to do some community work around the area.
The house we were going to stay in was a great reward for the long and tiring journey. We were lucky to get this one due to a booking mix-up. The first couple of hours were spent checking out every corner of the house and running around to grab the room with the best view. Once we had settled in we had some dinner and retired to the drawing room for some games.
Next morning the Ranger, Roy, picked us up from Millbeck Towers and drove us to where we would be doing the day's work. We started off by dragging wheel barrows up the hill. The job for the day was to finish-off the style that was already half done and disassemble the old one and bring down all the wood. SInce that would not have required a long time, Roy took us around for a walk to see some deer, which we did not, unfortunately.
The second day was laborious! We were helping to make a footpath to make the woods near Derwentwater more accessible. We did some surveying to measure the gradient of the land and fill in gravel appropriately. The slope needed to be perfect so that it was easy for wheelchair users. Digging up gravel and transporting it using wheel barrows to the site of the footpath, though not very far- off, was hard work. However, with ten of us working we did manage to get an impressive amount done by the end of the day.
We decided to stay an extra day and explore the area. In the morning we went to a near-by osprey view-point and sighted three individuals and a nest, had some tea in a pretty tea-room in Grasmere and made our way back to Sheffield.
It was a nice weekend away for everyone, especially with most of us graduating this summer. Special thanks to Kat for organizing and getting a fabulous accommodation and Mollie and Chris for driving us all there :)
