Thorn in my side. And in my shoe. And inside my gloves. And…

Four of us convened at Batheaston playground to help our friends from Grow Batheaston make inroads in clearing some scrubland adjacent to the park.

There will be nettles said the brief. You will be clearing brambles said the brief. Wear protective clothing it went on...

Dan and I did the "man thing" and turned up in running shorts. Dan did the additional clever thing of letting me and Natalie get right in to the brambles, while he and Ellie cleared and piled up our cuttings onto heaps for rotting down. (Natalie had read the brief and came fully denimed-up and sturdy-booted for the task in hand)

We started out on a patch of brambles which were conveniently right next to a large patch of nettles. I noticed this by the repeated application of walking through the nettles with bare legs...

The brambles were deep. so deep in fact that the lower layers had died back. This had the bonus that it could mostly be pulled out without needing cutting. I quickly learned that if I pulled that out, then I could climb deep inside the bush and cut the living bramble growth at its base. The brambles were very thorny. I noticed this by... well you get the idea...

We had an enjoyable time, helped make a big dent in the area of brambles, and it was, er, lovely to release my inner caveman and come away covered in scratches and stings.