CYHA News

Sunshine & Snowdrops

After a particularly depressing, wet winter, it was lovely to get out and about again in glorious spring sunshine. Obviously everyone else thought so too, and we had a record turnout for our Anglesey Abbey walk in March. Full marks to Trudi for a splendid idea - although there was the slight catch that in meeting at Anglesey Abbey we had difficulty prising some people out of the teashop, where they were supplementing their breakfasts prior to setting out. Still we got there in the end and set off with some 13 people in tow. Out from Lode, past Lode Mill, and on to the Fens. We were mostly walking alongside the various dykes, ditches, lodes and drains which have helped give us the Fens we see today - a very ordered and largely agricultural landscape. But this was a pleasantly varied walk with sections running through woodland and the preserved fenland at Stow cum Quy.

If you really want to see the Fens as nature intended, I highly recommend a visit to nearby Wicken Fen, one of the earliest nature reserves run by the National Trust. This gives an excellent idea of just how much the peat levels have shrunk in the few hundred years since draining started.

After a pleasant snooze and sandwich stop on a way-side en-route, we headed back to Anglesey Abbey, with the teashop firmly in our sights as sun started to go down and it got a bit chilly. But this still left us with plenty of time to meander through the gardens and admire the famous display of snowdrops (sadly roped-off to protect the turf from over-enthusiastic zimmer-frame users). The winter garden was much admired by all - amazing what impact you can make with different combinations of twigs and winter foliage. There was also the opportunity to view the inner workings of the water mill and purchase some of their oatmeal and wholemeal flour, ground on site. Tea and cakes were consumed to the accompaniment of murmurs of satisfaction in the thankfully roomy teashop. I can personally recommend the scones with jam & cream - first rate!

For those of you who didn't round off the day with a visit to Chris & Janet Strellis, I can assure you that mother and baby (see Feb newsletter) are doing fine. Matthew is an incredibly cute baby, although both parents assure me I wouldn't think so if I was the one having to get up for him every night.

Ali

A WEEKEND IN WESSEX

A record 28 came on the recent trip to Winchester - we really must make the descriptions of future trips less appealing!! All of us managed to find the hostel (despite the best efforts of the city's one way system and lack of useful signs) early enough to stagger to one of the 3 pubs within 100 yards of the mill we were staying in.

The old mill was a splendid old building over the river. The common room, had a high vaulted roof which was pretty, but cold - as warned by the warden. Unfortunately, the National Trust, who own the building, need to build some extra facilities to comply with some EU law and in doing so will remove the male dorm. This will reduce the available bed spaces so much as to make the hostel unviable and so we may have made our visit just in time before the hostel closes.

Both days turned out to be glorious spring days with blue skies and non-stop sunshine. On the Saturday we walked north of the city from the hostel for a stroll along the Itchen valley. We were back in time for a walk round the historic city centre - Alfred the Great's statue, the cathedral and the school. I was also able to buy Sunday breakfast for everyone as I had left the first attempt in my freezer at home!

Sunday saw some of us staying in the town and I led the rest on a 7 mile walk to the west of the town ending up in a pub and followed up by a visit to the gardens of a local National Trust country house.

Both walks passed through the rolling Hampshire countryside, picture perfect villages filled with lovely but - no doubt - very expensive cottages and along and over the fast flowing, crystal clear chalk aquifer rivers- the Itchen and Test.

It was an area I've passed through before but not really stopped long enough to appreciate properly - we will have to visit again soon.

Dave J

YHA Winchester: The City Mill

There has been a mill on the site since Anglo Saxon times, powered by the fast-flowing River Itchen. The current building dates from 1744 and worked as a corn mill until the 1920s. In 1928 the City Mill was saved from demolition by local benefactors who bought it for the National Trust. A major refurbishment between 1995 and 2001 involved reclaiming a pair of millstones and reconstructing the mill wheel, sluice gates and grain hoppers, so the mill is once again able to grind corn.

Since 1931 part of the building has been leased to the Youth Hostels Association, making it one of the longest serving hostels in the country. The main milling room is used as the dining room, shared with the mill machinery and National Trust exhibition, and with the ever-present sound of rushing water beneath the floor. In the early years, apparently, hostellers even washed and bathed in the fast-flowing river!

News from Saffron Walden hostel

Wardens Mike and Gail have moved to Snowdon Ranger and Richard, the new manager is keen to continue the association with the group. He will be starting full time in April, and we will arrange a date for another garden maintenance session. (see the hostel garden story)

…and from Jordans Hostel

Nicola, manager of Jordans hostel in Buckinghamshire, has been in touch asking if we would like to visit again to help her with some of the jobs we started last year (see May 2002 newsletter), including a further extension to the patio, more painting and chopping down trees. If there's a free weekend in the summer, we'll try to fit it in.

And some late news: The results of the YHA 2002 President's Awards have been announced, and we are named winners of the "Best Work Undertaken at a Hostel" category for our work at Jordans.

Committee News

Lynn will be standing down from the committee in May…she is expecting a baby in July!

Chelmsford YHA E-mail List

We now have a group email list so that you will be able to send an e-mail to everyone on the list simply by sending to a single address.

This will mean that anyone can contact the whole group quickly, for example if there is a last minute change to the programme.

Now that 85% of CYHA members have e-mail addresses, this should be a useful way of keeping in touch. If you're not on the list yet, please contact webmaster@chelmsfordyha.org.uk for more details. (The list is for current members of the group only).