This evening we returned to the magical space that is Marston Forest Garden. We were greeted by Isobel who gave a pitted history of the site for our newbies and outlined the tasks. The name of the game today was gentle movement. Gardening in 30 degree heat and all that!!

We split into 3 groups. One tackled brambles in the herb circle, one hoiked out armfuls of Michaelmas Daisies from around some rayher drought-stricken raspberries, and Joel and Muireann chopped and sieved compost ready for use!

Watermelon from Isobel was a welcome and refreshing addition to the task!

We'll be back here for a weekend session on 9th August so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Welcome to David and Matthew. Thank you for joining us this evening!

Mrs P is always delightful and very happy to see me. She wanted the front grass tidied and roses dead headed and shrubs cut back. I was able to give everything a quick cut back and tidy up and Mrs P was very happy with the result. As always we finished up with a drink and a chat.

It is always such a treat to be back at Boundary Brook Nature Reserve. Helen always find us varied jobs to do and today was no exception.

We literally made hay whilst the sun shone.

A few helped with sycthing the meadow and the rest of us raked up the hay and trundled it to the ajoining allotments to be used by the plot-holders.

Along the way we avoided ant hills and wasps nests, teasle prickles and I was in awe of Megan and her ability to shift mounds of hay single-handedly!!

Katie and I debated whether we would be tip-top medieval peasants or whether we would be tried as witches.........

A glorious morning.

This evening, we returned to Aston’s Eyot, a 32-acre nature reserve with public access. It’s a GoodGym favourite, as it almost always involves scything and offers lovely views of the river!

We split into two teams to tackle different sections. Our tasks ranged from using posts to secure log seating and sawing branches to open up the viewpoints, to scything the pathways and lopping back overgrown greenery. Along the way, we enjoyed watching the rowers, kayakers, and swans pass by.

It was the kind of task where we could see the immediate impact of our work. We even got to test out one of the log benches at the end and admire the newly cleared space. We were really pleased to welcome Akshat for their first GoodGym session!

I've found a cool grasshopper, would you like to see it?

When an honourary Googymer with gappy teeth and a fruit patterned bucket hat (Sebby aged 6) asks this the answer is ALWAYS yes.

This evening we weeded the wall at Iffley Glebe to try to keep it going a little longer, protecting the gorgeous meadow within. The meadow was freshly cut so we tackled the wall, some pesky self-seeded sycamore trees and cut back some over enthusiastic nettles.

Hannah from the Oxford Preservation Society kept us hydrated and the views and sunshine were gorgeous.

Well done team!

Shady Aston Eyot was thankfully cool for a strenuous scything and fence repair task. Ruth assigned our tasks and kept a watchful eye on progress. There are always nettles to chop back; this time we scythed around a fenced in area, cleared an overgrown path and carved out a track to one of the many backwaters. James tackled his first scything task with gusto, quickly getting into the swing of it; for Vicky and Joe it was another battle with a familiar foe. The rest of the team tackled the fence repair. Burrowing animals create holes under the fence big enough for muntjacs to squeeze through, undermining the purpose of the deer proof enclosure. The task was to reinforce the fence posts, cable tie loose sections of wire and block off the holes with sawn up logs. Anja, Henry, Sarah and Steve used their ingenuity to make the enclosure deer proof once more and give the saplings a chance to thrive. Due to the heat, a group run was not on the menu. Thanks to the whole team for another great session and special shout outs to James on his first scything task and welcome back to Oxford GoodGym to Sarah.