8 Goodgymers spent their evening at one of their more regular haunts dubbed on the website as ‘a Secret Garden’ (in Widcombe). No, it’s not THE Secret Garden, you won’t find Mary Lennox playing there. Rather, it’s an old Baptist Burial Ground looked after by The Bath Preservation Trust, cheery! (It is actually quite lovely).

As a few GoodGymers ran their way to the Garden/Burial Ground, discussions were had around what our tasks today would be, as we had a larger group than normal. Would we or wouldn’t we be removing bind weed and brambles? How do we feel about pulling up bind weed and brambles? Suffice to say, and you won’t be surprised, we did pull up an abundance of bind weed and chopped down many a bramble. Some of us felt sad for said plants, I suppose they’d gone to all that effort to choke the life out of the other plants, and bind weed flowers look pretty. The brambles were even showing off their bounty of blackberries. We mused about uses for bind weed: could we fashion a rope? Did it have medicinal properties? Interestingly the leaves do contain a molecule that can treat hypertension and is also known to be a diuretic, among other things… so not all bad! (Thank you Wikipedia) The flowers are also important for sweat bees! (I’ll let you research those and no it’s not a typo).

But I digress… all GoodGymers assembled we took to the task assigned, with gusto, and as usual we cleared a sizeable space of bind weed and brambles within our allotted hour. Making light work of it if I do say so myself. Richard, Jerr and Ruth even managed to remove a blanket of the stuff; allowing flora and fauna underneath to be free and to grow and prosper, until the bind weed and brambles take hold again, and we will be back in a year clearing the same area! We will be ready!

Another good evening’s work team! Till next month at the not so secret, secret garden.

It's finally spring isn't it? What a glorious day of sunshine and actual warmth we had today as six GoodGymmers ventured over to Bathampton. And it was a classic mission too, helping the National Trust who have acquired a large stretch of land from the edges of Batheaston all the way to Morrisons in town.

Sarah, our National Trust Supervisor for the day, greeted us after a short walk from The George Inn. Onwards with vigour went Ruth, Art, Aaron, Emily, Meyrick and Kam, filled with the joys of approaching summer and (lets be honest), this was T-Shirt weather for the first time in an age.

Sarah split us up into two groups. We were all to work in a series of fields that, Sarah explained, were still owned by the National Trust but had a tenant farmer (they were the farmer's sheep not the National Trust's).

Group one set about moving piles of woodchip from where the had been produced from the removed remains of unwanted brambles and other foliage. Group two were tasked with removing the remains of an old fence that had been replaced, but was proving to be stubborn in its attempt to persist alongside it successor.

By the time we'd finished, all posts (metal and wood) as well as the associated tangle of barbed wire that had a life of its own, were history. One particularly obstinate metal rod whose removal we were beginning to thing impossible, was removed with seconds to spare.

Job done, again. We then retired to The George for a drink and a chat.

We at GoodGym Bath are well aware of the nurturing power of gardening and the outdoors and we certainly put in lots of practice.

One of my favourite missions is at the walled garden at Newton St Loe, which is being restored by the Grow for Life charity. It provides social and therapeutic gardening sessions for people coping with anxiety, depression or isolation. The site will eventually become a haven - as well as providing freshly-grown vegetables, flowers and herbs.

It was a treat to return to the spot and see it radically transformed from my last visit. What had been rows of lettuces of all varieties and other plants had been dug out and replaced by curvacious borders.

Grow for Life's Wayne McMaster, explained that the gardeners really wanted a place they could sit and relax and take in the atmosphere. They pointed out that regimented lines of crops do not make a relaxing environment and so the curvy flower beds were born.

And that's where GoodGym came in. Those beds need a serious amount of mulch if they are going to do their job and raise plants, veg and floral abundance.

Wayne had taken delivery of a huge lorryload of manure and our main task was to add it to the beds marked out across the site. Tanya was given the job of rescuing a host of tiny nasturtiums growing in the plots and then the team reached for rakes, spades and wheelbarrows and - with moral support from Ted the dog - did its best to move the mountain of manure.

Special thanks go to Jason - who came from GoodGym Bristol to lend a hand - and a big welcome to Jenny and Kam, making their GoodGym debut. You wouldn't realise it from the way they "dug" in.

We were also given an idea of how the garden will look when it's finished. Wayne is planning a wide variety of trees to provide fruit, shade and a windbreak for the Grow for Lifers. It was great to write the labels and perhaps we'll be back to help plant them.

We didn't quite move the mountain but we made an impressive dent in the dung. Well done Jane, Emily and the rest of the gang.