Its 10am on a freezing cold Monday morning at the end of November, any public sector worker with sense would be tucked up in a cosy office sipping back a nice cuppa coffee (fairtrade of course), but no, not me. I’m stood in the middle of a field in deepest Whippingham (somewhere over the back of Osborne House), surrounded by a bunch of inquisitive looking Alpacas (Alpacas???), waiting to climb a 30ft Aspen (Populous tremula) tree? This is surreal? Was the weekend that crazy I ended up falling in the Solent and floating on a piece of driftwood all the way to Peru?

No… I’m here with an equally nuts Kellie White (IW Tourism) to participate in a new activity to hit the Island’s shores; tree climbing! – the Alpacas incidentally share the field with the trees. So yes tree climbing… we have both been invited out by Good Leaf Tree Climbing to have a go at this new experience.

Whilst driving out this morning I was trying to remember the last time I climbed a tree? I must have been about 12 years old; I remember it being a great feeling so I was quite looking forward to the nostalgia of it all. Its kind of strange, like all the ropes and safety gear that are there to legitimise it for adults? Anyway, back to the climb. We arrive and are greeted by Abi and Paul, after checking we have all the right clothing for the task we set off to find a specimen for the morning. Before we get going, Paul, who is a qualified Arborist and tree-climbing instructor, takes us through a thorough risk assessment and explains all the safety information.

Kellie is first up, for the record and those in the know we are using the ‘double-rope’ technique, where a rope is doubled over the tree and you use your weight through a foot-rope to hitch yourself up, for those with super upper-body strength you can simply use your arms… Kellie and I settled for the foot-rope! So once Kellie’s all set up, its my turn. For the first few minutes we look like a right couple of goons… spinning around a couple of feet off the ground waggling a rope and wondering why we’re not going anywhere? So after some further guidance from Paul we are both scuttling off up the tree (well actually more a intermittent shuffle).

The first few metres are quite tricky; firstly, the shock to some muscles I’d forgotten I even had and secondly, trying to coordinate all the pulling, sliding and pushing movements at the same time. But after a few minutes we’re both steadily making our way to the top. No awards for the most graceful tree-climb of all time but I guess you could call it reasonably effective. After about 30 minutes we arrive at the top, at this point Paul comes up to join us (his accent is more akin to a winch) and we all tuck into our chocolate mini-egg reward. Paul takes some time to explain about the type of tree we are climbing, some of the management issues and generally offers a very good introduction to the world of trees (especially as we are both total amateurs!).

Now the descent… certainly a lot faster! Once we’re all de-kitted we tuck into a picnic of coffee, tea and homemade chocolate flapjack (including chequered rug!). Now this is totally surreal; having a mini-picnic, in the middle of a field, dressed in winter woollies and surrounded by Alpacas! If this were all we’d got from the morning it would have been well worth the trip!

So how much does it cost? 2½ hours at £40 (Children £25). When can you have a go? Year-round. Do you need to be fit? Kellie confessed her only exercise over the past 6 years was lifting a pint glass and the walk up and down Union Street and she managed perfectly fine. Although a basic level of fitness is recommended. Is it sustainable? Yes – no harm is done to the tree, it provides education, there are no CO2 emissions and it gives the old heart a thorough workout. Highlights: the liberation of hanging out the top of a tree, Abi’s flapjacks & coffee and Paul (he’s a Kiwi). Lowlights: although the flapjacks were great the cold made the chocolate a little hard!

So if you’re after something a little different this is definitely it! For further details and booking checkout www.goodleaf.co.uk

Steve