Shadow Woods

It was Clem’s 29^th birthday on Sunday. It was also the first weekend after Jess ran the Brighton Marathon. These two facts combine to equal booze in the woods (that’s science). When I was planning Clem’s birthday surprise, I spoke to Jess as she and Karl are expert glampers (Shepherd’s huts, yurts, tipis, secluded coves.. they are like tripadvisor without all the aggrieved comments) and she suggested Shadow Woods. They had been there before and I knew Karl sometimes went over there to help out Clive the woodman so it seemed like a good place to start (I intend on lots more adventures like this one). Amanda, manager of the campsite and Clive’s partner, sorted us out with the Meadow Cabin which might just be my new dream home*.

After a spot of lunch – the best kind: French stick, cheese, crisps, houmous, and a cup of tea in Clem’s new birthday camping mugs - we set off for our first adventure.

Things we found include:

Mini Stonehenge (conquered by Viking Clem who also came on the trip)

A proper vintage caravan decked out in the stylish prints of its day

A wooden mallet

Chickens (you can’t really see them in this pic but Clem stayed and talked to them for a long time. I think they were confused because his colouring is the same as theirs).

When we got back we had more tea and cracked out the wine and ale and got the campfire going. Clive and Amanda came over to say hello (they are all looking at a shy dog here, it was a beautiful blue grey staffie called Daisy but she wouldn’t come in to say hello).

Clem’s birthday English Pale Ale, in his regimental tankard, woodland info books and presents in the background.

Karl and Jess hanging out in the woods

We spent all evening round the campfire polishing off barbequed chipolatas, veg kebabs and more French stick, listening to our favourite songs playlists and looking at stars eventually getting under the wonderful quilt at about midnight.

I set the alarm for seven so we could have a bit of time to potter about before going to meet Clive for a bit of bushcraft. As this was Clem’s actual birthday he got out of making the morning tea and we sat looking over the woods while Jess cooked up a bacon, egg and croissant breakfast (eggs from the previously mentioned chickens – score!)

After present opening, Clive came over and started telling us about what things were edible and we tried a few bits. Primrose and Wild Garlic were the popular choice, although some of the more bitter things would have been alright if they weren’t on their own

Then we chopped down a bit of Willow-or-might-have-been-Hazel and started stripping the outer bark. When you've stripped the outer bark away, you can peel the inner bark off in a sheet and pull it apart to get fibres for making string.

Next up: feather sticks. What we were trying to do was make a stick look like a pretty flower (click on the photo to go to the website of the chap that made this one - he's a touch better than we were...) :

What we managed to do was make whittling blisters on our palms. It was fun though and in the end I made mine into a Harry Potter wand and Clem made his into a spear, having also done a bit of flint napping and using the string we made earlier.

The string making was probably my favourite bit because it’s just like spinning yarn so I knew what I was doing. The whittling was a bit harder to get a handle on, I think I would need a lot more practice before I could sell my wares to the townfolk.

Obviously we were knackered after all that so when we got home we had a quick game of Clem’s other birthday present – Carcassonne – and fell asleep pretty sharpish (that's not my photo, but luckily lots of other flickr users love this game too, thanks to Louise for introducing me to it!).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLEM!

Alice

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*Subject to change without prior warning, last week it was this place