Cumberland Cottage Visit 2-3rd December 2000 |
Cumberland Cottage is set in the heart of Wildboarclough. The stone cottage is situated on a hill, with it's slope leading down into the "ravine" and with a forest(well gathering of trees) across the river from it. The cottage itself is basic. The water supply is taken from the famous wildboarclough spring, which we hope isn't contaminated! (We boiled most of the water to be on the safe side anyway. ) The only form of heat is the log fire, which is the focal point of the main living area. In the money corner of the room are empty tables, a sure sign that any money in the cottage has long since gone! Only the greatest of survivors are able to..survive in the cottage, which is why Cobden managed alright when we went there last weekend. (Nothing personal Kinder). The cottage has an upper room, where the scouts slept, with room for around 16 of them. It also has a pitifully small kitchen, a dark staircase and hallway, and, of course, a room for a chemical toilet (Outside). The weekend began with meeting at the scout HQ on Friday night. The leaders, being organised, had just finished the shopping. A select team of Parents/drivers had been briefed on how to get us to our holiday haven, and we were soon away. For those of you who've ever been I have been informed to let you know that Ric Pie got up the path to the cottage (over the "Massive" stream), to ensure that not too much walking had to be done! The fire was switched on by setting up a collection of wood, paper and firelighters (Cheats!), and then putting a match to it! And yes John, when I did it, I only used one match! Friday night was relatively uneventful. The leaders sat by the fire whilst the scouts all mucked around upstairs. We rose early on Saturday morning, and were greeted with the smell of frying sausages. One crazy Venture had been up cooking breakfast since six-thirty!! We also "Enjoyed" the porridge/Porage(how ever you want to spell it) that Auntie Pie made for us. Stodge in a dish would have been a better name for it. However, it kept us warm for a short time at least. We planned to do a walk on the Saturday, and duly set off after renovating and tidying the cottage. Everyone had a specially prepared packed lunch - custom built by the Ventures - and we set off up to the Cat and Fiddle. One of our best navigators nearly took us the wrong direction - he had apparently not noticed the dock off sign just infront of his nose pointing the way to the C & F. Still we got there eventually. Shortly after this it was time for lunch, in what Mr Statham would call a "Sheltered area", and others would call "on the top of a hill in gale force wind". We arrived back at the cottage in time for a quick wide game, and a spot of wooding for the evenings fire. After dinner on the Saturday night, we were joined by Dan Hopwood, who bought us great news of Spurs and Leeds losing, Manchester United winning, and Stockport county, well, doing exactly what they do every week! (They lost). We then settled down for a memory game. "I went on holiday, and I took with me..." This game lasted for over THREE QUARTERS OF AN HOUR, and we eventually had a list of over thirty-four items. We could have gone further, but we were all a tad bored! The Sprouts went to bed, and we were left to rue over the days activities, before drifting off into a nice deep sleep. Sunday morning. Pie woke up late, and was unable to take the Scouts on the jog up to Shuttlinsloe he had promised them. Instead we played Manhunt. Ventures stick (That's 10 Scouts onto a mere 4 Ventures). Following several illegal jail-breaks by members of the Scout troop, the Ventures, shall we say, were "Not in the best of moods". We sat around a bit, before deciding one last attempt was in order, especially given that they'd all ran off together to the top corner of the boundary (some, I hasten to add, were seen outside of it - Cheating fools!). We split up and cornered the Scouts - it was fun to see there faces when they realised that they had nowhere to run or hide! We were triumphant! All ten Scouts captured, Thankyou very much! All that remains to be said is that we had goblins, sorted the cottage out, built a cess pit, and lumbered back down the path with our kit - some carrying notably more than other skiving naughty Scouts. We were picked up at the gate, and were driven home - to the wonders of gas-fires, microwave ovens and proper toilets! Those teams in full. Nippy Nolan Bozzy Snr Fido Ducky Finny Ronaldo Dykins Ben Tott Rob Sandoe Ben Meeko Jimbob VS Tommy Togs Adi Togs Ric Statham Dan Hopwood (Trained By Mr John Dawson) |