By Marilyn BurrowsThe troop were fortunate to have been offered a campsite in the grounds of Castle Hill, an estate with a magnificent manor house, gardens open to the public and 12,000 acres of rolling countryside near Exmoor.
On the manicured lawns leading up to the house, Group Scout Leader Chris Nevill invested three new scouts - Hamish, Lewis and Nick.
The troop’s day hike took
place on the hottest day of the year, with the lads having to take on more
water supplied by holidaymakers in a converted barn complex. The weather
turned wet during the middle of the week, but undeterred, the scouts and
leaders went go-karting in Barnstable, picking up a fish and chip supper
on the way home!The estate manager and his gamekeepers were good hosts. They collected the scouts in large pickup trucks and took them off to see the pheasant pens in the woodland, where they learned about rearing the birds and managing a commercial shoot. The estate runs a large number of shoots for the entire season. In appreciation of their time and interest, the troop leaders invited the chaps to dinner, with Lady Arran popping in too. The scouts had cooked their own chilli con carne in the marquee, while the adults dined on venison! Jamie McCree was awarded the coveted Best Camper shield, with brother Danny collecting the ‘snazziest shorts’ trophy.
At the estate’s picnic spot there is a commemoration to three scouts drowned in the area’s flooding disaster of 1952. Lady Arran commented that our troop’s camp was the first on the estate since that tragedy. This memorial had been dedicated in 2006, in the presence of scout members, and the tracking sign for “gone home” placed below it.