Heavy nettle, 4 Jack Russells and the rescuing of Mrs. Tiggywinkle!

Jen, Tom and I had a very busy morning helping Mr D with his garden. When we arrived we were greeted by 4 v.lively Jack Russells (one named Stinky) and Mr D who showed us through to the back space which was packed full of waist heigh nettles and brambles. Luckily, Jen and I had opted for leggings but Tom had bare legs so we had to work out the best way to work with minimal stinging (big thanks to Jen for lending me her coat) and optimal clearing. We got to work, pulling out the nettles from the ground and passing them to Tom to deposit into a designated spot on the side of the wall. This worked really well and only resulted in a few tug-of-war moments, often helped by the pups who were desperate to play.

We were surprised to make quick progress with the nettles and were happy to start having paths to walk through rather than battling with their stings. However these weren't the only stings we had to be wary of as we managed to disturb some bees which luckily weren't too angry and we made a mutual decision to leave each other alone. We uncovered many treasures hidden under the weeds including a stress relief ball, a crutch, a fish tank and a pair of boots which the pups enjoyed wrestling over.

As we were nearing the end of our mission and feeling very chuffed with our work we discovered the dog's had gone very quiet as they'd discovered a hedgehog who wasn't very happy that her Saturday morning nap had been interrupted. Mr D explained that the dogs often terrorised hedgehogs and was happy for us to put our new friend, Mrs.Tiggywinkle into a box to relocate her somewhere safe. Amongst the excitement of finding this beautiful animal we couldn't believe what progress had been made on the garden space in such a short amount of time. Mr D was really happy with our help and told us how he hoped to grow vegetables and lay a patio once the space was clear again and that he would be out there in all weathers making sure it's done!

We said our goodbyes to Mr D and the dogs and took away Mrs.T in her box, out to Jenni's car. I found the number for a local hedgehog rescue centre who were more than happy to give us some advice. They suggested rehoming the hedgehog in a nearby and safe garden with access to water and Jen spotted a lovely garden with a hedgehog ceramic at the front so it was definitely a sign.. We knocked on the door and they were more than happy to take Mrs.T into their care and let us take her into the back garden where we left her nestling into the grass with a dish of water should she need it.

We felt really proud with our morning of work and a big well done to Tom for his first mission & first trip with Goodgym and a big thanks to Jen for being so prepared and for giving us a lift home in her car as it started to rain! We hope Mrs.T lives a long and happy life in her new home and that Mr D and the dogs enjoy their newly uncovered garden space :-)