Today is the twenty seventh of May. It has been nearly four months since the last blog post. The word has changed and a lot has gone on. The Den has been raided, rebuilt and improved. Here below is a general update of what has happened over the last 4 months.
We left off in spring and with longbows. Cold wet days and lack of will power to do anything. As the months went on it only got worse. Raids left us in ruin. The door smashed, the windows broken, shingles burned and the cabin turned over. But as always the Den pressed on and came up with solutions. The door got metal hinges and a padlock. The windows had the glass taken out and had sturdy shutters with a board lock installed. A chainsaw mill was bought to allow planks to be made on site. This allowed us to build a porch.
With huge progress and the cabin now secure I decided it was time to give the place a proper upgrade. With the shingle roof progressing and the wattle and daub wall looking mighty fine I decided to build a stove. The project had to be either free or very cheap. So using an old gas bottle out of a skip, some old angle iron and a donated hinge I built ‘Brian’ the cabin stove. The chimney is made out of baked bean can slotted into each other. The door is just the top of the bottle. With some air holes drilled in he fired perfectly. With a little help from Toby we managed to weld a steel plate to the top which can be used as a hotplate. It works brilliantly and will cook spam and beans very nicely.
We also have had plenty of wildlife. Badger are out and about, foxes scuttle along the the rides at dusk. The squirrels chatter away about the quality of last years nut harvest and the woodpecker decides to see if the sweet chestnut trees are any softer this time around. The pheasant lets the females know he is in town and the rabbits bomb between bramble patches. The deer jump through the bluebells and scratch at the sycamores.
The den continues to progress. With me leaving the woods come September to start a new adventure I want the place up and running well with hopefully the cabin finished off. So that when I come back home it will be waiting for me in good standing. However, for the time being need to get my backside making shingles and up on that roof of mine.
The Den workshop 