Perma-culture club

It doesn't get much better than 8 runners off on a lovely jog along the Thames, circuits and then farming & gardening amongst the lovely animals.

Our starter session drew half GoodGym veterans and half newcomers for a wonderful and wholesome morning at Surrey Docks Farm.

We started off with a nice warm up in the farmyard - the goats came to watch as well. Then it was off for a gentle jog along the Thames path chatting and slowly waking up after a week at work. With so many lovely green spaces to choose for a bit of strength work, we made two stops.

Every minute on the minute and feel the burn

For our first stop, a bit of leg work... 10 squats, a sprint out and back and then 6 split lunge jumps... go at your own pace but the quicker you do it, the more rest you get. After 5 rounds and some burning thighs, we then managed a quick sprint up some stairs back to the river and jogged to our second stop.

This time, the focus was on the core... again the minute is the magic time but with 40 seconds work and 20 seconds rest... plank with arm taps, single leg raises, russian twists, mountain climbers and the classic crunch. Time to chill with the animals.

We got back to the farm and Lucy who organises the green fingered work. She explained a bit to us about what they're trying to do ... permaculture: a horticultural movement where a garden or area uses sustainable energies, everything is edible and waste becomes used for re-growth. They are trying to educate the youth around Surrey Docks Farm about gardening and living from the land. It's ace to help get that going.

Lucy gave us a couple of jobs... unsure if we would finish them! I'll let you guess if we did...

We were levelling off the foundation for the herb spiral and collecting bricks to build the spiral and then clearing a load of japanese lanterns, onions and leeks and filling the raised bed back up with soil. We swapped half way through to make sure we all got an arm workout from the bricks.

We all got a turn with the wheel-barrow relay and there was even time for a donkey-stroking interlude as well as a chat with our favourite Calf!

We all said mega thanks to Lucy, did a final stretch after all of the lifting and then were free to enjoy the farm and the sunshine... Time to go to the farm shop for some freshly laid eggs and a bacon sarnie

Don't walk by the Pig pen though!

See you soon lovely Farm.