In glorious evening sunshine, GoodGym Bristol ran up the hill to Clifton Hill House to help restore a Georgian pond.

We met as usual at the Folk House and headed across Brandon Hill and then headed up a steep hill to Clifton.

The task was to help take apart a pond which had been altered from its original state. This involved removing the plants and lining from the middle of the pond and removing the bricks and concrete from around the edge with sledgehammers and chisels. We then ran the bricks and rubble down to the bottom of the garden.

As we got started the wildlife started to come out! First we found lots of newts in the pond, which Kate made sure were removed to a safe spot in the garden. Then we started to notice large spiders, which Louise informed us were false widows, capable of biting! We bravely carried on, with maybe a couple of squeels (from the boys).

We managed to complete the task in time to run quickly down the hill and back to where we started. Newcomers Chris and Ruth both did great, getting stuck into the task and run.