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Tentsile Blog
Ben Trevor: an arborist's life
The top twenty feet of the tree stands above you with a pull rope attached under tension, and you have made your directional 'gob' cut - a wedge cut out of the stem, a quarter to a third of the way through, that enables a 'hinge' of wood to determine, to some extent, which direction the top section of the tree will fall once the final back cut has been made.
Karri, Karri Knight: A Night of Wonder!
Waking up on the Tentsile in the tallest tree in Europe, shrouded in mist and watching the Sun burn through and reveal the steep, forested sides of the valley, distant houses, and clear, blue skies will stay with me as long as I live, and we’re already planning to go back to those beautiful trees.
Tentsile People: Ben Trevor
Ben Trevor, otherwise known as the Tree Top Troubadour, has been an arborist for over ten years and a musician for over twenty. His two occupations combined in a wonderful way in 2012, when he started performing gigs at the tops of very tall trees to raise money and awareness for cancer research and tree conservation charities. In our latest Tentsile People blog, we talk to Ben about his life, his work and the trees that make him tick.
Tentsile people: Richard Symonds
Richard Symonds is an artist, tree climber and friend of Tentsile who spends his days variously painting up trees, working on commissions to support charities, and getting outdoors as much as possible. We spoke to him recently to ask for inspiration and information for artists, conservationists and outdoor enthusiasts, and his answers didn’t disappoint.
Tentsile: the perfect location for a date.
f you ever get bored of the usual routine of cinema, dinner in a restaurant, picnic in a park or drink in a crowded bar, and you want something a bit out of the ordinary to put the icing on the cake of a new romance (or to treat someone you couldn't do without), a Tentsile date is the way forward.
Climbing meets camping: taking Tentsile to new heights
If your tree-climbing knowledge harks back to the childhood days when even saplings seemed like sequoias, your first port of call is a course like Sawpod's Tree Climbing Course or Goodleaf's Essential Recreational Tree Climbing, which can teach you everything you need to know about species, safety and lots of lovely knots.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: the first Tentsile festival.
Question: where can you find trees, camp fires, chilled out adults and happy kids, good food, great music and a dazzling array of hammocks, tents and tarps?
Answer: the first Tentsile festival. Aptly named A Midsummer Night's Dream, our first foray into the world of festival-ing took place in late June, and it was all we could dream of and more.
With Tentsile into the jungles of Cambodia
Snakes, ex Khmer Rouge soldiers, hidden pyramids, fighting with dogs and bleeding from both ends. The epic journey.
Leaving China to renew my visa, I chose to avoid Europe, and instead trail through Cambodia. So I landed in Siem Reap with a small bag and nowhere booked to stay.
How green is Tentsile really? The life cycle of a Tentsile tent:
But then I thought - how are our tents really made? Where do the raw materials come from? What is the whole process and real impact from our manufacturing? So I did a bit of digging and here it is. The honest life story of a Tentsile tent:
ISPO Shanghai last week
Little did we know that an hour later we would face a similar plight. Walking around the show we soon realised that we were the only western brand tents there.
Why Take Workers on Holiday?
The workers mostly came from small villages 5-7 years ago and have been working in other factories in the area – some in pretty bad conditions, but mostly have been treated well since they work hard know their stuff! They didn't care much for us at first. Westerners running a Chinese factory, what's the difference? Many Westerns are already there and many, run the factories in the same way as Chinese owners would because it's cheap and no one complains.
How to hug three trees at once: Inside a tent designed for maximum ecotherapy.
At the end of the day, it is hard to measure the impact that Tentsile has on the world, except through the experiences of the Tentsile user community (many of whom are active bloggers). For every tent sold, the Tentsile company plants three trees through the organization, WeForest.org. It’s a good start, but the rest is up to us: the users and explorers. Happy camping...
