I've been working 'off the grid' for the past few days with a group of students and have been based in this cabin in the depths of the woods! No phone, electricity, running water or showers; just a whole lot of wood smoke, some simple living and some questionable hygiene standards.
Half of the excitement was arriving in the dark and waking up to a cold frosty morning to see where we were! It was only a short drive from St Asaph, but having never been to this area before, all was new! On waking up, my nose (the only exposed part of my body)- the rest was cocooned in my down sleeping bag - felt bitterly cold. It was a tough job extracting myself from its warm confines!
First job was to get the fire going and get busy with a breakfast session of bacon and eggs - flame grilled? You got it!
Meanwhile, back at The Cottage, Clare was enjoying the first 'proper' snowfall of the winter! What a beautiful sight!
We spent our time, not leaving the woods. We were right down in a sleepy hollow by the river Elwy. Living out of doors requires a lot of organisation and everything takes a long time to do. By the time we'd finished breakfast, it was time to start lunch! After a firelighting master class, the next thing on the menu was camp bread 'twists' - Ken Marlow would have been proud!
These delicious little things, once removed from the cooking stick can be stuffed with a variety of fillings...
The camp pizzza (cheese and ragu sauce) was a firm favourite amongst the team...
Although, having a sweet tooth, I was rather partial to the particularly messy, yet delicious, maple syrup version...
The days passed so quickly! Whittling sticks, collecting wood and water, cooking and eating took up all of our time! At dusk, we explored the woods and discovered an unbelievable cave system! The land owner had given us a rough map, so we took torches and were amazed at what we found!
Then it was back to the campfire, for much singing and guitar playing..
Despite the distance from civilisation, we still ate well! Pan fried Salmon steaks for dinners!
All in all, a great few days of fun away from the world. It was interesting how many of the group (unprompted) thanked us for the weekend and commented how surprised they were that they'd not missed their phones, laptops and computer games and that they all enjoyed just 'playing' in the woods. And of course, it helps having a cool (and clearly very fashion conscious team to work with!
I've managed to clean the mud from my clothes and smoke from my hair and hopefully my lungs will clear soon from all the wood smoke!
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