National Trust Working Holidays in the Lake District are for anyone who would like to learn traditional rural skills and put them to good use. The most strenuous is the footpath working holiday. On this you walk for up to an hour each day and learn path techniques from skilled footpath workers. Previous experience is not necessary - as you can see below!
Other National Trust Working Holidays in the Lakes also available include
dry stone walling
hedgelaying
general conservation
For those aged 16-18 the Youth Discovery Holiday provides a week of varied rural skills and a great time.
A Great Chance to Work Together
National Trust Footpath Working Holiday May 2009
By Ruth Forecast, Basecamp Community Warden
12 people undertook footpath work on Three Shires Stone to Red Tarn path
During the week the Coniston and Western Valleys footpath teams came out in force to help Basecamp staff instruct in footpath techniques.
New skills were learnt: how to move large stones for pitching and drainage; understanding the way people walk and why and the ‘landscaping’ technique.
How to move large stones for pitching and drains
You will need: two willing people with a bar each.
The technique: with one person jamming the bar in the ground close to the stone and either pushing forward or using it as a lever they move the stone slightly and hold it in its new temporary position. The second person then jams their bar in and does the same. By repeating this move and hold technique, the result can either be a shuffle, a slide or a flip of the stone.
Photo: moving stone with a bar
Following a line
The working holiday volunteers had to get their heads round what was happening on the ground before they started work. Looking at ‘the path’ they could see that walkers had been taking numerous lines to go along the route. Each line avoided an area of erosion or obstacle and this, in turn, made the eroded area wider. The aim of the work would be to subtly encourage walkers to follow one line rather than many, and to do this so naturally that it would appear that no work had been done. This is known as ‘landscaping’
The ‘landscaping’ created by the volunteers during the week involved moving surface gravel from many routes to the chosen one, digging in random stones to block the desire to walk along some lines and to make one route line the most natural route for walking.
The sign of good work
There is no sign. After a few weeks, you’d never know we’d been there.
The verdict?
One of the volunteers: “First time I have done pitching. Really enjoyed the jigsaw puzzle it entailed. I've also juggled, sang, played Ozzie Uno, drank beer. Best of all, I’ve enjoyed myself, and laughed all week.”
Photo: footpath repair under blue sky
Interested in a working holiday?
Check out the National Trust working holidays (opens in new window).
