Work on the Boundary Oak Walk last year turned it from winter’s muddy bog to a surface that has coped with all that the climate threw at us this time round. With its effective drainage ditches and hoggin surface, this path is now much appreciated by CREOS members.
It was most unfortunate therefore that the Lower Path, which leads to Boundary Oak Walk, became the one to get flooded and unpassable this winter. An unlucky combination of many new visitors discovering these paths, along with a need to both maintain social distancing and also avoid the mud, led to many new desire-line paths being created through the undergrowth, leaving shrubs, saplings and ivy trampled underfoot. This increased footfall and massive amount of rain couldn’t have come at a worse time as regular CREOS workdays were cancelled due to lockdown and repairs could not take place. Something needed to be done, and quickly, to protect and preserve our lovely woodland.
Fantastic Volunteers
Luckily a small core of loyal CREOS supporters, using the expertise they had acquired from constructing Boundary Oak Walk, put on their raincoats, took out their shovels and worked valiantly for a couple of hours a day throughout the spring to try and get the path back into shape. This involved lots of creative ideas, using recycled materials to build up the level of the path, digging drainage ditches at strategic intervals and finally restoring the surface with a good layer of new wood chips.
Now that the paths are in tip-top shape again we hope that visitors will keep to the paths and let the spring growth restore the woodlands to their former glory.
