A TROOP of adventurers took advantage of the full moon and sunny weather recently to cook over wood and sleep under canvas at the National Trust's Cotehele Estate.

Cotehele's second 'Wild in the Woods' event attracted 28 adults and 22 children from as far away as Cambridge for a weekend of night walks, canoeing on the Tamar, carving wooden spoons out of sycamore grown on the estate and building small boats to race down the Morden Stream.

Cotehele head ranger Joe Lawrence said: 'We had a diverse group of single adults, families and generational families.

'People came from all over, including one family who only live as far away as Calstock.

'It was great fun for us to introduce them to parts of Cotehele no-one ever sees, or hears.

'A fox was barking across the river during our night walk, owls were hooting and every morning we'd check our mammal trap to see what sort of beast we might have caught, then of course we'd let them go.

'It was a real privilege for us to be able to share Cotehele in this way and I could tell our campers had a good time too.'

The weekend included an inventory of activities childhood dreams are made of including campfire cooking and foraging for food in the hedgerows.

The campers slept in a colony of nylon tents, bell tents, capervans and yurts in a cherry grove in full blossom.

On September 20 to 22, Cotehele is organising another camping weekend, specifically aimed at adults and young adults.