3 Goodgymers ran to help tidy the gardens at Guys Cliffe House.

Another day, another Guys Cliffe Group Run!

After a quick stretch at St Nicholas' Park, we were off on the 2km run to the site with James bravely leading us up the hill. On arrival, we were handed rakes and other tools and tasked with piling up the loose blades of grass from the freshly cut lawn. Despite the wind NOT being on our side, we worked as a team to gather up as much as we could and load it into the tractor for disposal. After an hour of back-bending work, we were satisfied that the pile looked satisfyingly large, we headed up the hill for our group photo before we were back on our feet for the run back. For a second post-surgery run, Alexandra managed to keep up (just about!) and the group made it back to St Nick's for a good stretch before heading off for the evening.

Always a pleasure to be back at Guys Cliffe and we'll definitely be there again in the next few weeks !

1 Goodgymer ran to help with the maintenance of Guys Cliffe gardens.

Another day, another gardening mission. This time we joined the regular volunteers at Guys Cliffe house for their weekly gardening mission. Working as a group always makes for an excellent atmosphere, even if the weather isn't the best!

Guys Cliffe has regular gardening sessions every Thursday from 10am to 2pm so if you are interested in getting involved, keep an eye on the website!

1 GoodGymer attempted to help complete some gardening at Guys Cliffe House

This week's group run was a bit of a disaster! Our task owner is involved with multiple projects so got a bit confused about which GoodGym would be helping out with this week. As a result, we ended up waiting outside the Guys Cliffe gates before we realised the mistake!

This wasn't too much of an issue as it was a beautiful Saturday morning with plenty of time for a good litter pick. After a bit of scouting to find a perfect location, Flechamstead Highway was our chosen spot. Just over an hour of work yielded a full bag and a half so a job very well done!

We'll be rearranging with Guys Cliffe soon so if you were looking forward to volunteering with them, keep an eye on the website!

4 Goodgymers braved the cold to help rake the leaves at the beautiful Guys Cliffe gardens.

After a quick run from St Nick's Park, guided in part by James's swanky new head torch, we arrived at Guys Cliffe gardens to a row of rakes and a running tractor. Unfortunately our task did not involve whizzing around the grass, instead it was all hands on deck to rake the fallen leaves from the banks at the edges of the path.

We got to work creating huge leaf piles, careful to avoid the snowdrops and daffodils, while Adrian inched the tractor alongside us to make sure we had plenty of light. Although it was a big task, we were luck to have an extra three pairs of hands and we we were done before we knew it.

Once finished, Katherine switched out her head torch for a tour guide cap to show us around the beautiful Guys Cliffe ruins. Of course Nigel was a bit more interested in the intricate joinery than anything else!

Leaves raked and sights seen, we headed back to St Nicks where we completed another 10 minute loop of the park to finish off a training run that Alexandra had snuck into the Group Run.

We're hoping to head back to Guys Cliffe in the next couple of weeks so if this sounds like fun to you, keep an eye on the website!

4 Goodgymers returned to help Bring Back Guys Cliffe with maintaining their vast grounds and gardens.

After a short jog from St Nick's park (including the rather steep hill up and over the canal) we arrived at Guys Cliffe to be welcomed by Anne who explained our task for the evening. Never failing to give us a great active task, this evening we were shoveling gravel from a trailer, into buckets, carrying it down a staircase, through a few rooms of the building, out the other side and then laying a layer of gravel on the outdoor steps at the back of the building.

Everyone found two buckets easier to carry than one (allowing us to be well balanced) so the four buckets we'd started out with were soon supplemented with an old dustbin that we could fill up and carry between two of us down the stairs.

Once the steps were covered with gravel and raked smooth, we moved onto putting a thin layer of gravel over the floor of cloisters cave. This required a slightly longer walk across grass once we got to the bottom of the steps and after one journey, we quickly decided the use of a wheelbarrow was a good idea! James and Nigel handled the wheelbarrow and took charge of spreading the gravel evenly across the floor of the cave, whilst Allan jumped up onto the trailer and attempted to scoop the remaining gravel to the edge before sweeping up all the overspill that hadn't quite made it into the buckets first time around.

With the trailer completely empty and the gravel spread across the steps and cave, it was a job well done and time to say goodbye to the other volunteers before heading back to St Nick's.

It was so lovely to see this amazing building and its beautiful surroundings in the daylight, whilst at the same time getting a great strength workout. We look forward to the next time!

5 Goodgymers dodged the downpours of storm Dudley to complete part 2 of rock moving at Guys Cliffe House in Warwick.

Knowing the task that was in store for us, we decided to complete a slightly shorter run from St Nick's Park to get to Guys Cliffe, saving our energy for the big event.

After a quick welcome from the lovely volunteers at Bring Back Guys Cliffe it was straight to work filling the wheelbarrows with stones. We had to ensure we didn't overfill the wheelbarrows in our enthusiasm so that we would still be able to get them down the long, winding slope to the bottom of the cliff where they will be used to form a new rockery.

After the heavy rain earlier in the day there were new challenges to overcome, with stone sliding that the GB curling team would be proud of. We've also invented a completely new sport for the winter olympics - wheelbarrow sledging!

Everyone made it to the bottom of the cliff whilst staying on their feet (which was an achievement in itself)! We emptied out the wheelbarrows at the bottom and then returned back to the top of the slope to do the same thing all over again - twice more!

By the third trip we all had biceps that Arnie would be jealous of and had managed to move all the stones that were physically small enough to be lifted without mechanical machinery. It was then a run (slightly slower on weary legs) back to St Nick's hearing about everyone's plans for the half term week. A great all body work out and another job well done.

Just as we got home and were settling in with a post run cup of tea we could hear the heavens open again - perfect timing!