Easter Break in the Countryside of England
This Easter break I had another 3.5 weeks off university (I know; I can scarcely believe I'm a full-time student myself) and decided that I would stay in England this time, to experience "real life," here. The truth was that I had arrived in this country 8 months ago and I still didn't feel like I lived here at all. So when I received an invitation from a British family on Help Exchange to participate on their massive self-build, I packed a bag and hopped on a train down five days later when class let out.
On the greenbelt in England's northwest, I engaged in a variety of construction projects for 40 hours per week in exchange for delicious food, unlimited home-brew, interesting company and an unconventional place to sleep.
The main project: the house
Side project #1: the pool house
Side project #2: reed bed green waste-water system
Side project #3: first of the garden patches
Side project #4: brewin' brew
**Other side projects not pictured: land-clearing, rental cottage-tending, lime plaster mixing and rendering, window glazing, miscellaneous wood chiseling projects (ex. bird-mouthing oak beams).
There were four other traveling volunteers at the site when I was there, although only two of them (the young men) were photographed. This was because I forgot to take photos until my last week there, and by then the other two had already left for their next destinations.
Here's how a typical day went:
Eat breakfast in the already-build kitchenette attached to the pool house.
Get my tools ready.
My main designated task in the three weeks was paneling the oak frame, half because I was the only volunteer who wasn't afraid of heights (and could therefore tackle the top levels) and half because I was too weak to do the heavy stuff like scaffolding or lifting beams. Turned out I picked up the procedure pretty quick and was pretty good at it, so I kept on.
Basically I measure out the space I'm fitting
and cut any pieces I need.
Repeat at various heights.
Before.
After. These finished panels are ready for lime rendering.
The view is pretty good up here
even on a grey day.
If I get bored of paneling, I do some framing stuff in the pool house. I'm also pretty good at this job 'cause it's also about measuring, cutting and fitting. Same with window fitting and glazing. It's all pretty much the same thing.
After work and before dinner, I chill with animals
Or fish
in the lake in the backyard
Or talk about playing this game that we never actually get around to playing
Or photograph the guys sawing wood to burn in our tipi stove (for heat at night) instead of helping out.
Yep, us volunteers sleep in a tipi.
Video tour of the inside of the tipi.
Sometimes the host family cooks for us; other times we cook. This time is our turn.
Some alcohol before dinner. Some during dinner. Also some afterward. (You may have noticed there are wine bottles in our tipi).
We close the chickens in at night so foxes don't get them.
Then we head in.
Aaron starts a fire while I harass him.
Sometimes we have "tipi parties" involving almost nonstop drinking.
But of course aside from work on the farm and self-build, we also had time to do some sightseeing around the area:
A residential property down the block. This is pretty much what I've imagined English houses in the countryside to look like.
"Cattery"?
We were lucky to be within walkable distance to the nearest beach. Here's the promenade on a windy day
and on a sunny day.
A lot of people in the neighbourhood own horses, and take them out for rides like we take dogs out for walks in the city.
END!
So that was my spring break. I start class again on Monday!
On the greenbelt in England's northwest, I engaged in a variety of construction projects for 40 hours per week in exchange for delicious food, unlimited home-brew, interesting company and an unconventional place to sleep.
The main project: the house
Side project #1: the pool house
Side project #2: reed bed green waste-water system
Side project #3: first of the garden patches
Side project #4: brewin' brew
**Other side projects not pictured: land-clearing, rental cottage-tending, lime plaster mixing and rendering, window glazing, miscellaneous wood chiseling projects (ex. bird-mouthing oak beams).
There were four other traveling volunteers at the site when I was there, although only two of them (the young men) were photographed. This was because I forgot to take photos until my last week there, and by then the other two had already left for their next destinations.
Here's how a typical day went:
Eat breakfast in the already-build kitchenette attached to the pool house.
Get my tools ready.
My main designated task in the three weeks was paneling the oak frame, half because I was the only volunteer who wasn't afraid of heights (and could therefore tackle the top levels) and half because I was too weak to do the heavy stuff like scaffolding or lifting beams. Turned out I picked up the procedure pretty quick and was pretty good at it, so I kept on.
Basically I measure out the space I'm fitting
and cut any pieces I need.
Repeat at various heights.
Before.
After. These finished panels are ready for lime rendering.
The view is pretty good up here
even on a grey day.
If I get bored of paneling, I do some framing stuff in the pool house. I'm also pretty good at this job 'cause it's also about measuring, cutting and fitting. Same with window fitting and glazing. It's all pretty much the same thing.
After work and before dinner, I chill with animals
Or fish
in the lake in the backyard
Or talk about playing this game that we never actually get around to playing
Or photograph the guys sawing wood to burn in our tipi stove (for heat at night) instead of helping out.
Yep, us volunteers sleep in a tipi.
Video tour of the inside of the tipi.
Sometimes the host family cooks for us; other times we cook. This time is our turn.
Some alcohol before dinner. Some during dinner. Also some afterward. (You may have noticed there are wine bottles in our tipi).
We close the chickens in at night so foxes don't get them.
Then we head in.
Aaron starts a fire while I harass him.
Sometimes we have "tipi parties" involving almost nonstop drinking.
But of course aside from work on the farm and self-build, we also had time to do some sightseeing around the area:
A residential property down the block. This is pretty much what I've imagined English houses in the countryside to look like.
"Cattery"?
We were lucky to be within walkable distance to the nearest beach. Here's the promenade on a windy day
and on a sunny day.
A lot of people in the neighbourhood own horses, and take them out for rides like we take dogs out for walks in the city.
END!
So that was my spring break. I start class again on Monday!