The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Why chopping trees beats the sun-lounger
In the 50th year of the National Trust’s Working Holidays, Hazel Plush finds they suit all ages
After almost an hour, two cups of tea, and more swear words than I care to admit, I’d finally defeated my 9ft nemesis. I may have been a novice gardener, but the rhododendron bush hadn’t stood a chance: who knew I was so nifty with a hand saw? Its branches lay in a tangle, ready for the bonfire that raged on the beach. With a deep lungful of smoky, crisp sea air, I surveyed my work with a broad grin: not bad for a bit of weeding.
Most people come to Brownsea Island – a forested sliver of land in Poole Harbour – for sunny picnics, nature trails, or a glimpse of its red squirrels. But I was here for a National Trust Working Holiday: five days of volunteering work with the rangers, pitching in with gardening, maintenance and conservation projects all over the island.
This isn’t everyone’s idea of a jolly, I’ll grant you, but for those who enjoy getting their fingernails dirty and the sweet satisfaction of an honest job done well, Working Holidays are ideal. “People think I’m mad for doing this in my spare time,” confided fellow extreme gardener Valerie Ryan, a teacher from Plymouth, as we stacked the branches high on the fire. “But I love it. When you see the difference you’re making, the sense of achievement is unbeatable.”
It takes thousands of volunteers to maintain National Trust properties: some lending a hand for a few hours here and there, others putting in 40-hour weeks. Working Holidays range from two to eight days in length and account for an extra 50,000 volunteering hours per year, a vital chunk of the workforce.
The trips started in 1967, when volunteers arrived en masse to refurbish a picturesque stretch of the North Stratford Canal. They camped in a simple shelter in a nearby field, but the jaunt was an instant hit. A halfcentury later, there are almost 200 Working Holidays at National Trust properties all over England, Wales, and occasionally Northern Ireland (Scotland has its own heritage trust).
Each site has specific manpower needs and the trips are tailored accordingly. You could learn the art of dry stone walling at Golden Cap on the Dorset coast, or help with wildlife surveys at Clumber Park in Nottingham. There’s beach clearing in Devon, conservation in the Brecon Beacons, and – to commemorate this year’s 50th anniversary – restoration work on the North Stratford Canal.
After our morning “rhodie bashing”