Monday 18 August 2014

National Trust Working Holiday in Northumberland!

Hello, am currently in the beautiful city of Krakow, acting like it's 1999 and writing this from an Internet cafe. Last week I took part in a National Trust Working holiday, which took place at Cragside, in Northumberland. It was hard work, but good fun [albeit incredibly muddy fun] and I met some interesting people, including a man who had done over 100 working holidays, which just goes to show how addictive some people find them. The group's main task was to clear overgrown paths around a lake, which basically meant chopping down every Rhododendron in sight, and then burning the buggers. We also had to pull reeds out of a lake, because they were threatening to take over, and chop down the odd tree to let more light in [although I must confess I was too much of a wimp to actually fell a tree myself...but I did saw through the odd branch]. Evenings were spent walking round the property like we owned the place [since the visiting public had all gone home] and playing jenga and bop-it [which I was surprisingly good at!]. We even got a day off, where we acted like extreme American tourists by seeing one island [Holy Island] two castles [Lindisfarne and Bamburgh], one seaside resort [Seahouses] and one idyllic village [Craster] in a day. Click to find out more about working holidays!

 

       Bamburgh castle



Getting ready to go in the lake...with my leader looking on. I have never looked more like my father! I only shared this because I'm committed to honesty on this blog...but I don't think I ever felt less attractive...oh well, it was at least satisyfing clearing the lake!



Yes, Cragside had a Labyrinth, a real one in which two people got properly lost!


And the labyrinth had a wizard in it, which is always good!


It was a bit spooky at night though...

As a side note, you would not believe how much of a struggle it was for me to upload these pictures following Polish instructions...oh the perks of travel! More Cragside pics to come!

2 comments:

Charlotte Tillyard said...

Great post! I love this part of the world and you chose a fun way to connect with it!

Unknown said...

Thanks Charlotte, it is a beautiful part of the world and working holidays are a great way to meet people!