Wednesday 27th Dec. It was a day planned to take my youngest daughter for a fun day at the woods. Having only been for a few fleeting visits, she was keen to get hands-on and spend some quality time there. I had a couple of small jobs I wanted to do but mainly I wanted to let her experience the woods in more depth and create some good memories for her. First job was to collect firewood and light a fire. I showed her how to use the ferro rod firesteel and birch shavings to get an initial flame, then coax it along gently until it was established. Kettle on for a coffee.

Remember last visit when I had to leave a felled hung up tree? I needed some help to get a rope over it and pull it sideways. I used a small log tied to some cord to throw it over the stem high up, then pull a rope through and back to ourselves. We both held one end and rhythmically pulled on the rope until it loosened and crashed to the ground – exciting and a little scary, great! One job done.

It was soon time for lunch so out came my trusty cast iron skillets. Bacon and egg sarnie for my daughter, veggie burger and egg for me. More coffee. Simple stuff but so satisfying to light a fire, cook over it and scoff it in a woodland.

We headed off to the hazel coppice area with the Silky saw for her to have a go at cutting. She seems to love sawing things so we cut back a couple of small stools and snedded some branches. Earlier we had spotted a hare and there it was again. It’s a rare sight these days so a thrill to see one in my woods.

Back to base and time to let her loose with the big splitting axe. After a little H&S talk, she split a few logs for me. We had a walk over to see if any neighbours were in but didn’t meet any. Time was pushing on so I packed up while she had a bit of quiet time sitting on mum’s bench and watching birds on the feeders. I think it was a successful day out and hopefully left her with some nice memories.