I drove up to Medomsley, near Consett a few weeks ago to meet up with a lad called Gary Macklin and take a look at the woodland He's been renovating for the last three years, about 40 acres or so, only a ten minute drive from my place, yet I had no idea he or it existed!
The wood was last "worked" more than 30 years ago, not a long time but enough to allow plenty of strong young birch, ash, beech,hazel, alder and a mix of conifers to settle down again and create a stunning little bit of "other world" tranquility. Just far enough off the beaten track to not have numerous bike trails, litter or signs of vandalism but close enough to be accessible to invited guests.
At the moment, Gary harvests top grade broadleaf firewood, seasons it for two years, then sells it, but He's wanting to diversify and get into more craft based activities, like charcoal production, green woodworking,hazel coppicing,hurdle making and potentially, wild camping provision and some basic bushcraft events.
At the moment, the wood looks a bit bleak, damp and skeletal, like all woodlands but come the spring, it'll take off.
This is his current base for operations, typical of small woodland enterprises, with the ruts and mud etc but that's a good sized log cabin he built himself, under the blue tarps!
Obviously needs a bit of work with a bit of clay and a turf roof but loads of potential there.
The wood is located in a small valley, with a lovely little stream running through it.
It's been planted in the past but I'd say there's more broadleaf than conifer.
The tracks are in very good nick and you can get around very easily and if needed quite quickly
The wildlife is quite prolific too, in 20 mins, we saw two deer within about 30m of us, loads of birds including Jays, tree creepers, a load of "spuggies" ( generic Geordie term for assorted small brown birds) and of course the Derwent Valley Red Kites, soaring overhead.
The tracks take you around a bit of a circuit, a little bit of up and a little bit of down,
with loads of potential for bivvys and basha's, as well as open fires too.
certainly plenty of good hammocking sites.
not to mention tents
There are some grand old tree's in there as well, this beech is bigger than anything in my 'other' local woodland, Chopwell Wood and according to the "Friends of Chopwell Wood" their "huge beech tree's" are one of their "main interest points"
The photo, as ever with my photography, doesn't do this grand old tree any favours, as I missed the base of it
Gary at one of the current worksites ( shxxe photo!)
The potential for a top class, "go as you please" 'wild' camp site alone is excellent. With a possibility of "drive in and camp" for anyone with a decent 4x4
So anyway, the upshot is that Gary is looking for a squad of volunteers, to go along and spend a weekend camping and carrying out various tasks, from drain clearance, to brash stacking and even some wattle/hurdle fencing around the "reception" area ( Well okay, the area just inside the gate!) In return for your labour, you get to wild camp, light fires, wander freely, wild life watch, gather useful raw materials, practice what ever bushcraft skills you fancy, apart from those involving trapping or anything otherwise intended to harm the wildlife. Strictly no guns of any description or archery equipment, cross bows etc.
It's self catering, though there is a 45 gallon drum pizza oven for anyone fancying a go at "F.O.B." baking!
The track in, is rough, wet and muddy and a mile from the nearest road, okay in a proper 4x4 but otherwise difficult/impossible at the moment. I'll keep posting updates but again, if you need more info, contact Gary direct.
I'm not organising this, simply giving a heads up, if you want to go along, you need to contact Gary direct via his facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/CowcloseWood/info
I'll be there and as well as mucking in, I'll also possibly be running some very basic skills sessions, assuming anyone is interested
Ultimately, this will be a commercial wild camp/bushcraft site, among other things but at the moment, there's far too much to do for one person to get it off the ground. I've no financial connections with this at all either, I'm just trying to help the lad get what I think, could be a superb asset for wild campers/bushcrafters etc, off the ground.
Hope some of you can get along for the weekend or even just a day, there should be plenty going on
cheers
Steve
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Originally Posted by Chubbs
One man and his dog
