There’s been some shockingly poor weather for working in the outdoors this week. Weather warnings, threats of snow fall, gales and biblical amounts of rainfall have made for some tricky decision making and several changes of plans.

As multiple low pressure systems passed by, the needle dropped off the barometer and but luckily I’ve finally fixed the stove and our new chimney seems to be staying watertight at The Cottage.

Sometimes, the best course of action is to accept the weather and then get out into it. My group and I got fully committed during one hike. The fields were so saturated that in places we were crossing small lakes rather than puddles and the mud took more than a few boots prisoners for a while! Hilarious stuff really and a very memorable day for the students. Eventually we arrived back at base looking like we’d been at Glastonbury festival on a wet year. It was the kind of day where you had to laugh rather than cry – especially when we had to be jet-hosed clean at the end of the day.

There were a few respites in the weather and an afternoon on the beach at Deganwy to view the Conwy estuary gave a real sense of tranquility.

All in all, a week of noticing, embracing and getting in touch with the elements…