My mate, Neil, and I have just spent the weekend at Yellow Wood. We arrived on Friday and were met by Paul, the owner, who made us feel at home explaining some of the site rules and likely camping locations. We were pleased to be able to park the Land Rover next to our camp allowing us to use it as a base/storage facility (up to now almost all of our bushcraft forrays have been Land Rover supported). We then had a leisurely time setting up the camp, taking our time and making sure everything was right. We then went for a walk to get some wood from the log pile a few hundred metres away, on the way we past the newly erected Teepee which was fully kitted out and looked fantastic (I might try and tempt the wife away for a romantic weekend!). We collected our logs in the wheelbarrow and took them back to camp, split them and started the fire. The we cooked our evening meal and settled down to an evening by the fire with a bottle of Southern Comfort followed by a good night's sleep in the hammocks. My night was made better by the recently bought Hammock Underblanket from the second group buy, (thanks Wanderinstar).
The morning arrived without event and I rose to revive the fire with some twigs and get a brew on fullowed by some breakfast. We went to get more logs and split them adding them to our supply. Neil's wife joined us for the day arriving at the same time as Paul. This heralded more tea and biscuits fruit from an army ration pack. After an hour of idle chit chat we went for a walk around the wood to explore and take some photos. We checked the squirrel traps, no residents, we had been informed if any had been caught we could eat them! Then back to the camp to cook a curry in a big cast iron pot over the fire. I built a log heat reflector behind the fire while the curry was on the go. After the curry was dispatched we cleaned up the camp then had more tea. I decided to make nettle tea for the first time and found it to be fantastically delicate. Then after Neil's wife had gone home we sat down to some carving, Neil made a serving spoon and I worked on my project, a Kuksa. The heralded evening and a repeat of the last night, we were joined by Paul at the fire for a while and diacussed the wood's future and his plans as well as bushcraft in general. After a few adjustments to my hammock and underblanket I went to bed pleasantly merry and slept until dawn.
On Sunday the sunrise was amazing, I rose at 6am and reserected the fire to make tea. I took more photos. Neil prised himself out of his hammock at around 7am when the tea had boiled! We cooked breakfast and decided to pack down the camp to get home for some family time. A similar amount of time was spent in packing down, I was amazed after getting my Hennessy Hammock with Hex Fly into the snakeskins. The rucksacks were packed, the Land Rover loaded and the camp fire dowsed. Paul had asked us to leave the fire for future users, we left the cooking tripod and log reflector in place. We were away at 9.20 and at home an hour later.
The weekend allowed us to refine our campcraft and to get used to some new kit such as the underblanket and group buy stove. We erected the camp together and packed down together as a team which worked better than individual efforts in the past. We relied solely on a fire to cook on. We tried nettle tea (my first proper foraging apart from scrumping and gathering nuts and berries in autumn).
The weekend seemed self indulgent which is exactly what it was meant to be, allowing us time to refine skills and use kit to it's full potential. We had no dramas all weekend and had a fantastic time. I felt that we would be back again soon and that Yellow Wood is going to develop into a fantastic bushcraft venue, I was glad to be there at the beginning.
Stewey.
http://www.yellowwood.co.uk/ (no affiliation just a happy customer)
The morning arrived without event and I rose to revive the fire with some twigs and get a brew on fullowed by some breakfast. We went to get more logs and split them adding them to our supply. Neil's wife joined us for the day arriving at the same time as Paul. This heralded more tea and biscuits fruit from an army ration pack. After an hour of idle chit chat we went for a walk around the wood to explore and take some photos. We checked the squirrel traps, no residents, we had been informed if any had been caught we could eat them! Then back to the camp to cook a curry in a big cast iron pot over the fire. I built a log heat reflector behind the fire while the curry was on the go. After the curry was dispatched we cleaned up the camp then had more tea. I decided to make nettle tea for the first time and found it to be fantastically delicate. Then after Neil's wife had gone home we sat down to some carving, Neil made a serving spoon and I worked on my project, a Kuksa. The heralded evening and a repeat of the last night, we were joined by Paul at the fire for a while and diacussed the wood's future and his plans as well as bushcraft in general. After a few adjustments to my hammock and underblanket I went to bed pleasantly merry and slept until dawn.
On Sunday the sunrise was amazing, I rose at 6am and reserected the fire to make tea. I took more photos. Neil prised himself out of his hammock at around 7am when the tea had boiled! We cooked breakfast and decided to pack down the camp to get home for some family time. A similar amount of time was spent in packing down, I was amazed after getting my Hennessy Hammock with Hex Fly into the snakeskins. The rucksacks were packed, the Land Rover loaded and the camp fire dowsed. Paul had asked us to leave the fire for future users, we left the cooking tripod and log reflector in place. We were away at 9.20 and at home an hour later.
The weekend allowed us to refine our campcraft and to get used to some new kit such as the underblanket and group buy stove. We erected the camp together and packed down together as a team which worked better than individual efforts in the past. We relied solely on a fire to cook on. We tried nettle tea (my first proper foraging apart from scrumping and gathering nuts and berries in autumn).
The weekend seemed self indulgent which is exactly what it was meant to be, allowing us time to refine skills and use kit to it's full potential. We had no dramas all weekend and had a fantastic time. I felt that we would be back again soon and that Yellow Wood is going to develop into a fantastic bushcraft venue, I was glad to be there at the beginning.
Stewey.
http://www.yellowwood.co.uk/ (no affiliation just a happy customer)
