There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
'Til there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
'Til there was you

So sang a young Paul McCartney in 1963. The link between GoodGym Bath in 2026 and the Beatles is that we were ourselves using a 'Till' today, to till the ground. It's a tenuous link driven by the need to find a decent pun but I'll take it.

I have attempted to add to the lyrics with my own, describing the task that drew Ruth, Aaron, Bennath and Meyrick to Bath City Farm on such a surprisingly sunny and warm April morning.

There were four on a hill
But I never saw them planting
No I never saw them at all
'til there was you

Fifteen Hazel trees
But I never saw their saplings
No I never saw them at all
'til there was you

Then there was digging
And wonderful poses
They tell me on steep sunbaked hillsides
Of brawn and hew

There were spades all around
But I never heard them digging
No, I never heard it at all
'Til there was you

(And just for the purposes of copyright, lyrics by Lennon-McCartney-Williams)

It's always nice when someone comes to watch while you're on a GoodGym mission. You want to make a good impression in the hope that they might consider becoming a GoodGymer too. In this case our audience was a magnificent black ram. So no hope of him donning the red t-shirt any time soon. In fact we suspect he was only there to tuck in to the fresh foliage we provided with our weeding.

Yes we were back at the city farm, complete with pigs, goats, alpacas, chickens and the aforementioned sheep. Our task was to clear a patch of land of dead stems and very much alive weeds ready for sowing with a pick and mix pack of wildflowers.

There was added excitement in that the farm is set on the southern slopes of Bath and our allotted field was at quite a gradient. But Bennath took it in her stride and Cosmo threw himself into the task - almost literally. Jason and I operated at ground level - which was nothing at all like a game of pick-up sticks, I just thought it would make a fun pun.

We'll be back next week - those seeds need some sowing

It's been a while! I can't tell you for certain but I think it's been about a year and a half since we've been to Bath City Farm, so it was great to be back.

Slowly we've been able to add the regular missions, that we had prior to the organisational changes, back into the Bath calendar and this one was one of the last. Reaching out was the start but our offer to return was met jubilantly by the City Farm; our regular contact (Helen) still being there to enthusiastically welcome is back.

I always used to joke that Missions at Bath City Farm mainly involved manure, but this was an exception (I have a feeling though that some were actually hoping for manure).

A lot has changed since we were last here, many more outbuildings have popped up including a Yurt (a circular tent of felt or skins on a collapsible framework, used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia, and Turkey). Our job was to wheelbarrow soil down from the top of the farm to the edges around the yurt, where they plan to plant a bed of strawberries.

Bit of a trek between the soil pick up and the soil deposit, but it was the right way round. Full wheelbarrows on the downhill and empty ones back up the hill.

We achieved our goal though, and still had time to lay some woodchip down along the path we'd been using.

Keep an eye out, I will be posting more missions throughout the year, Bath City Farm is BACK on the calendar :)

Welcome to Bath City Farm everyone!! GoodGym Bath's fave place to visit. This a great project, the farm is extensive, has a wide range of flora and fauna and offers an array of educational and volunteering opportunities. It's also free entry to the public so a great morning or afternoon out for the family.

We are never quite sure what we will be getting up to when we go, and there is always the hope that it doesn't involve manure; and lucky us, this time it didn't.

It was a very cold Saturday morning, but the Sun was out and otherwise the weather was beautiful. A good crowd as well, GoodGymmers Ruth, Kate, Amy, Jane, Kam, Katie and Meyrick rocked up to see how we could help.

Some excitement pre-mission as ever dog-hero Jane ensured a roaming dog she found in the road near home was left in good care on her way to the mission.

This was a long session as well, so we were able to get multiple tasks completed in the time we had. To begin with, we cleared the top of a metal 'shed' in order to get our hands on some pond liner that had been stored there. As we were getting it down, it started spilling a load of stagnant water so we decided to let it leak and deal with it later.

Next up was carrying some animal feed to the pigs and lambs across the fields. We made it to the pigs (we were also instructed to count how many there were) and they were very grateful for the food. We sadly stalled trying to find the lambs as we were faced with crossing a small patch of land through four very scary looking bulls, with actual horns and everything.

It's unsure if the feed-group made it to the lambs as Ruth and I returned to the pond liner to finish that job and deliver it to where it would be needed by a later volunteer group.

After this we extensively litter picked along the main road leading to the farm, it looked fresh as a daisy when we were done.

An excellent morning at the farm, thanks all for your help!!

Bath City Farm is one of our favourite missions without a doubt, with plenty of adventure to be had for all. This Saturday, five eager GoodGymmers headed off to add additional pages to the story of our contribution there. Welcome to newcomers Katrin and Matt, to whom Meyrick warned them that 90% of the time, a GoodGym mission at Bath City Farm involves manure.

We were joined shortly thereafter by Jane, who additional offered similar manure warnings, as did Stephen when he arrived; piling on the manure expectations.

You can imagine our surprise when were were told by our host for the day, Helen, that this occasion was in the 10% of tasks that are non-manure related. I feel there may have been some disappointment in the ranks at this news but Helen did suggest that if wanted manure, she was sure she could find something for us. We demurred.

The task she did have for us was clearing a patch opposite the mini horses and next to the chickens. There was a rather overgrown area that needed to be made more presentable, and cleared of unwanted plants and weeds. I believe the fundamentalist wing of the 'Horse & Chickens Deserve Better Views' had been lobbying the Bath City Farm Parliament for this with clucks and neighs.

There was a lot to do, but we are GOODGYM and we work quick. It was fairly routine with nothing to report, (after all, what happens at Bath City Farm stays at Bath City Farm), but there were some incidents with the Burdock....

We completed the mission, job done. Hopefully this will reduce the clucking and the neighs from those chickens and mini-horses, and allow the ducks to raise their voices, as I know they have a bill to pass...

4 Goodgymers made their way to Bath City farm armed with gardening gloves. Our task should we agree to accept it was to join the alpacas in their enclosure to shovel up their droplets and chop down the nettles and plants.

Task accepted, the team mounted the enclosure (they couldn't find the key!) and began the great British clear up. Watched by passerbys and children visitors they generated 2 wheelbarrows full of weeds and 1 wheelbarrow full of droppings.

Great job team! Although the alpacas were a little disappointed that you didn't feed them :)