Special hats and wet weather

So...

It would seem that we are destined to struggle on through the finest weather that Nidderdale has to offer!

We returned to Sparrowhawk Farm this week and to be fair we had a cracking morning, the weather kept at bay and we finished preparing the foundations and digging out useful stone in time for our coffee break (with cake supplied!).

After our break we set about the foundations in three teams, we slogged on until lunch time when the deluge began in earnest. The site quickly turned from pleasant to mud fest and none of us could muster the will to carry on and called it a day.

Here's hoping that next week we get a good clear day and lots of walling done!

I was joined by Richard, Phillip, Tony, a couple of Graham's, Roger and David Leonard (who once employed us for a job at Thornthwaite!)

I only managed to get one picture done today, so here it is in all it's glory... Graham and the special hat

Sparrowhawks and Amazons Forever!!

This week sees us trekking up above Pateley Bridge to Sparrowhawk Farm to start work on another curvy project - we just can't get enough of them!

We were joined by Catriona, Roger, Paul, Phillip, Em, Graham, David, me and Taster Tony (our taster session volunteer for the day!).

Sparrowhawk Farm is a regular haunt for AONB volunteers and some of us have been here before, the owner Kit is establishing wildflower meadows and planning to keep bees and it's the bees we are here to help with.  As we discovered today the site has beautiful views, when they emerge from the mist but not a lot of shelter from the elements - something that the bees are going to need!  To give the bees a good chance at surviving the wind we've been asked to construct a semi-circular fold (does this sound familiar to anyone else!) which when finished will stand at approx 5' and hopefully provide enough shelter.

The weather was not kind to us and by lunch I was on my third pair of gloves and we were all beginning to resemble drowned rats.  We cracked on though and got most of the foundation trench dug and hefted plenty of stone out of the ground to be getting along with.  Everybody threw themselves into the task with a zeal that even the weather could not dampen!  However, by 2 o'clock we were drenched and really had had enough so called time for this week.

We'll be back again next week, with a bit of luck we'll get some sunshine and get the chance to admire this stunning location.

What photo's we managed to take before the mud set in are below.

Cheers, Em

Buried treasure

If a job's worth doing

Lets's do it properly

This was after the mud was washed away by the rain!

Pinfolded - 11th April 2012

The walling fairy evidently called by last week despite the forecast snows and left the wall in really good shape for Roger, the Richards, the Grahams and myself to finish off and clear the site.

Richard the Younger will be posting some of his time-lapse photos and I hope you'll agree the results are well up to standard.  The photos aren't bad either!  The weather was kind and didn't hail on us until we'd finished and were headed home.  We have much to be grateful for.

We have a taster day next week and I will let you know where our next project will be as soon as ... I've actually found somewhere!  watch for Wally-Mail and if you know of a site where we could start more or less immediately, please let me know.

Good job no-one knows who he's calling a fairy. 

UPDATE! A selection of  Daguerreotypes 

As promised here are some photos of the finished pinfold - and a few snaps of how we got there.

Before we got our hands on it.

After we'd finished messing about (At least I hope I've got them in the right order)

DEMOLITION!

REBUILD!

Richard

P.S. I'll attempt to make some sort of video out of the photo's I have taken. Don't hold your breath though. It may take me some time.

Winksley photos 21 March 2012

The view of the pinfold about to hold 10 stray wallers

The team briefing



It is always best to stand back in amazement



At close of play

Updated by Tony

Ten Go To Winksley

OK so it wasn't the easiest site to find but, in the end, ten of us made it to the Winksley pinfold which made for some tricky manoeuvres once we got started. 

Richard set up his tripod and camera so we could look forward to 'Winksley - The (Slightly Jerky) Movie as he snapped the various stages of stripping out and reconstruction.  The Grahams, Phillip and Roger tackled the smaller of the two gaps while the Ems, Paul, Richard, Tony and myself stripped out the larger stint and began reconstruction. (Note: interesting that the original wall had mainly stringers throughout and very few stones with their length built into the wall).  (Note2: The inside of the pinfold was the 'pretty' side with larger, more uniform stone as opposed to more random coursing on the field side).

By t'end o' t'day the smaller section was complete and looking handsome and the main gap had risen four courses from its new foundations.  One more week (two tops) should see it done.

Thanks everybody.

So we'll go to Markenfield no more... the saga endeth here

This belated post (which will magically arrive in the correct order by web based jiggery pokery) is the final hurrah from Markenfield Hall, well for now anyway.

The final week was graced by the presence of Richard (younger), Phillip, Roger and me (Em 1).  A small but valiant team dedicated to getting the copes on that wall come what may.

What didn't come was transportation for stone!  We were expecting this so crafted a well laid plan of loading up the boot of my car with copes and driving them down the deeply rutted track to get as close to the wall as possible.  Needless to say it wasn't close enough but it made a huge difference and Richard and I only lost about 3 inches in height rather than the foot we would have lost carting the stone the whole way from the barn.  Well done to my poor Rav 4 she's not used to going off road for real and she did all the hard work (her mistress frankly bleating about getting stuck!).

Meanwhile back at the wall face Phillip and Roger steadily added our contributions to the last remaining uncapped section of wall.  The final stones were in place shortly after lunch and we dedicated the rest of our time to chucking... er tidying the left over stone to the non visible side of the wall and filling the breach between the new wall and old wall.

After a hard days slog we sat back and admired our handiwork.

So pastures new have been plumbed at Winksley and our taster day is fast approaching, who knows where and when we shall meet again but we'll be back at Markenfield Hall again at a later date to tackle the ongoing challenge know only as the Park Pale.

Bye for now, Em

So near and yet ...

Well, we thought it might be our last visit to Markenfield, for some time at least but, nay lad, there's work to be done yet.

Another grand turnout with Paul, Roger, Catriona, both Richards and both Grahams, M1 and Phillip all putting in a final supreme effort.  Having scrambled around on Stone Mountain for a while, we managed to assemble a reasonable stack of cope-like rubbish and Bryon turned up (despite bruised ribs) with his venerable dump-truck to transport the spoils up to site.  So far so good.

Some remedial work on the existing wall produced a better-looking end result but the stone wasn't in a terribly co-operative mood and we had neither the materials, patience or energy to finish the job.  So it's another week at Markenfield.

Welcome light relief from our labours came in the form of M2 who brought guests, Boogie, shortbread and ... ta-daaa! ... FIZZ for a (slightly premature) topping out ceremony to be enjoyed by all and especially sundry.  Sincere thanks to Em for that.

Photos still elude me but I'll fill in the gaps when I can (unless any dear reader wants to do so?).