They say good things come in small packages and that was the case this evening. Kelley and Matt joined me to make a small but enthusiastic team on our group run.

We warmed up near the Ockwells car park and then ran 4km on rural paths to our task location. We chose the route less trodden and although sticky clay paths made the going heavy, we were rewarded with a view of a deer. Our destination was the New Thrift Wood planting site. You could call this lovely spot a GoodGym home from home as we have had so many sessions here - harvesting acorns, planting acorns, planting more trees, weeding around the saplings, and also maintaining the path in nearby Little Thrift Wood.

This evening's task was meant to be gathering acorns, but the crop is poor this year, so instead we turned our hands to more sapling care: pulling up encroaching grasses around the trees planted last year to improve their chances of survival. All three of us have done this before so once we had found the spot where Tessa, Sheila and I left off on Friday, we got stuck in. It is quite a theraputic task and whilst our hands were busy with weeding, conversation flowed easily. As the sun set and the sky faded from pink to grey, we reluctantly tore ourselves away.

As we ran the more direct 1km back we completely lost the light, so we used head torches and run-lights to guide us. We finished the evening with a quick fitness session including running, jump squats, lunges, planks, high knees, jumping jacks and curtsey squats. Then we stretched and headed for home.

Thank you both for a lovely evening!