The Nationals 2015

This year's Nationals were held at Chew Valley Lakes, Stoke Hill, Bristol. 

In complete contrast to the recent weather it rained all day, or at least for the whole time we were cutting, and as a result I took very few photos. However, here are a few shots of the day.

This is a shot up the hedge line before the off. unusually the cants were pre-drawn with the SoE Vets nearest the camera, then the SoE Open extending almost to the corner at the far end of the field. Along the far side were the various Midland classes.

This is my cant, second from the end, well third really as we had a 'no-show'. Almost entirely Hawthorn with a couple of self seeded rose and some bramble. The front and back had been mown off, and presumably the stock fence removed, so there was little clearing out to do. There was little of any size in our section, with only a few stems over three inches but much of it was multi-stemmed from ground level and being under the pines it had grown very much to one side.

It started to drizzle before the off and heavy showers passed through on a regular basis making for a very wet session. Being rather warm it was impossible to work in a coat so most cutters just got wet. I find the worst thing is wet gloves, and so I wore a gripper glove on my right hand, which gave a good purchase on the hand tools but was in no way thorn proof - my hand still bears the evidence of this.

This is my finished cant. Not too bad but notice my silly mistake - last week at the Hampshire competition we had laid to three and a half feet and I did the same here. I realised my error before banging in the stakes and lifted the binders but you can see that  the top of the hedge is rather low, leaving a bit of a gap under the binders - did the judges notice?

Looking back up the finished cants we have Clive nearest the camera, then mine and then Dave and Frank, there being only four of us (plus the one no-show).

I manged second slot behind Dave's winning hedge seen below. Nicely done with a thick even build.

And here is a picture (by Jackie Gilligan) of a very happy Paul having won the SoE Open AND Supreme Champion. I think this is only the second time a SoE cutter has won Supreme and it has been many years since the first. Well done Paul.

Hampshire Competition

Just a few shots from Sunday's competition at Hattingley. 

It was a continuation of the hedge we laid last year, so we were laying left handed again,  towards the camera. A light hedge, planted with an amenity mix, with perhaps only 30% Hawthorn. My cant contained Hawthorne, Hazel, Dogwood, Buckthorne, Spindle and Privet. So a lot of small stems to lay with just a few of 3 inches or more in diameter. Although some were using chainsaws I stuck with billhook and axe.

There were several standards in the hedge and in my cant was this straggly Ash, which I was originally told I had to keep despite it having been damaged in the past.

This is the SoE veterans section and there were four of us laying - all the usual suspects! Being just over eight yards and light we all got it down in good time and were able to spend time fussing over the stakes, binders and trimming.

Reasonably stock proof, given the species mix, and the stake-line was almost straight. They decided that the Ash should come out so I turned it into a stake.

Further up the line the SoE open cutters were finishing off and a splendid job they had made. Don't know the results as I had to leave before the prize giving (found out that Nigel Adams won the SoE Open and I got the SoE veterans but don't know any others).

Belmont Wood Fest

A quick shot of the dummy hedge created at today's Belmont Wood Fest looking away from the event towards the wood.

I was in a bit of a corner but not cut off from the main event being between some stick makers and Kent Woodland Employment, some of whose machinery can be seen on the right. I did get a good number of interested visitors and some possible leads for work, although some people did want me to build one of these in their garden!

What did you do on your holidays?

Over the summer I finally finished the wall I have be re-constructing at our cottage in Co Mayo, Ireland.

The original was probably built over a hundred years ago but has most likely been partly rebuilt during that period, as the section furthest from the road was of an old and unusual style known locally as feidín, where the base and lower part of the wall is built with small stones, often with large uprights at regular intervals, with larger stones used for the upper part. My understanding is that this particular style is only found in walls in parts of Galway and Mayo, but oddly also in Galloway in Scotland. Several local people were able to name this style but no one had a translation from the Gaelic or a reason why it was used in this area - more research needed.

This is the feidín section nearest the camera and I was able to retain the lower part, having removed a large tree stump from the middle of the wall. You can also see the remains of the ivy which had completely covered the wall and dislodged most of the upper stones. Additional stone came from some recently demolished sheds that were of a similar age to our cottage.

This is my first attempt at a dry stone wall and whilst it may not last 100 years I hope it will see me out.