Arlington Court, Devon

I am taking a huge risk and currently skipping over the blogging of my summer 2009 holidays. The task of rooting through and picking my favourite handful of over 500 photos is a bit too daunting for this very cold thursday january evening. So i'm temporarily fast forwarding to blogging my half-term holiday photos. What's nice is that I am sitting at the Southbank Centre on the Thames after a very (un)successful one point two snow days (early dismissal yesterday, no school today and late start/early dismissal tomorrow!). There is very little snow on the ground, but it's cold and the british don't really get snow in the same way midwest america does.

Anyhoo, these photos highlight my week-long volunteer trip to Devon with the National Trust at the end of October 2009. To sum things up as effectively as possible: I spent seven days living in a bunkhouse with twelve complete strangers ranging in age from 18-68. During the day we worked at Arlington Court, a national trust property located just outside of Barnstaple, Devon, cutting down and burning invasive rhodededrons (beastly plant-cum-trees) planted by the Victorians.



(these were successfully chopped down and burned by the end of day one)

During the evenings we drank small amounts of intoxicating beverages at the 'Blue Ball Inn' (I kid you not) located a short stumble away from the guest house. In between we cooked dinner for the group, read books and took naps.



Highlight of the trip: they gave me a saw
Lowlight of the trip: i wasn't allowed to use the chainsaw


woo!



our home for the week


the group, which split off into smaller factions during the day in order to complete something that felt a lot like slashing and burning


sawing down a slope proved difficult but fun


before the knee-deep in mud experience


the mini-bus i nearly got sick in almost every morning




Arlington Court, the actual property on the grounds we helped maintain



I met some fantastic people from across Britain whom i'm still in email contact with, which was probably the best part of the week. I also forgot how fast-paced and quasi-oppressive london can get and escaping into the countryside did something very positive for my spirit. I'm definitely keen to do another working holiday in the near future and perhaps could consider a career change? The woods don't talk back.

For more info on working holidays visit: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh.htmp