More Bridgewood plans, byelaws etc posted
Posted by Tanos on Wed 5 Nov 08, 1:25 AM
Tags: bridgewood
I've rewritten the Bridgewood plans page this week. New material includes the first draft of the Byelaws, and a three-part written sketch of what an open day might look like. Both of these were mostly written in the summer, but I've tidied them up enough to post now. I've also put up expanded versions of the pages about Laying out Bridgewood, and the outline of events, open-days and D/s retreats.
As they will change over time, I've cut and pasted them here for future reference:Laying-out Bridgewood
This year (2008) I've started laying out
Bridgewood's physical structure of woodland paths
("rides") and cleared spaces by felling trees and thickets.
The plans overview page has more about how I expect
to use the wood and the byelaws that create its
social structure.
The first thing is that alongside the BDSM plan for the wood is a set of
forestry aims which promote biodiversity and native species. These are worth
doing for their own sake but they also provide a more interesting and more
suitable backdrop for BDSM. For example, having areas of undergrowth and
open grassed rides (ie tracks) rather
than just rows of mature trees is part of that diversity and provides cover
for wildlife, but it also serves BDSM purposes by providing privacy for
people using the wood, with visually and audially isolated spaces.
A big part of the reason for chosing Bridgewood was that managing it properly
would also be compatible with BDSM uses.
When I visited the wood before completion day it felt almost like exploring
virgin forest: no tracks and no signs of human intervention (until you
remember the trees were mostly planted  ) So the first job is to improve
the access by establishing grassed rides. This will make it easier to get
around the site and eventually provide a suitable surface for pony carts
trotting around, chain-gangs shuffling along etc.
The ride that I've been establishing so far is the
Middle Ride,
since that has the best screening: even in March without any leaves on the
trees it was already completely private. It runs right through the centre of
the wood from one side to the other and so far I've marked it out with stakes
and then cut out shrubby tree regrowth that was in the way. Due to the spacing
of the mature trees, none of their larger root stumps will be on the ride
itself - although some will be right at the edge. I've aimed for gentle
curves to prevent long lines of sight without introducing sharp bends.
The Middle Ride gives access to
the Glade, which is in the
dead centre of the wood and was already quite open at the start.
I expect this will be the
"base of operations" and would be the place I'd set up any
temporary structures like marquees for events.
I've also laid out a circular ride in two sections, the North and South Rides.
These are much nearer the boundary and at
the moment they are only completely private in summer, although in the longer
term I'm looking at ways to screen that too with evergreens
and promoting brambles and ivy on fencing, which are abundant in much of
its route. This South Ride goes through some areas which are very open, and
will provide more variety and maybe a straight run for ponies.
This combination of rides allows linear, circular and
figure of eight routes by using the Middle Ride (~300m) and the North and
South Rides (~900m). I also expect to have places for stationing BDSM equipment (eg
stocks) along the rides and in the Glade and other new clearings.
For access onto the site,
there's really only space for a single car to park at the moment
(at the end of the access track to the gate) without venturing on soft-ground
or parking nose to tail back up the track. Whilst there's plenty of space for
more inside the wood, realistically it will need upgrading to park cars that
aren't 4x4s and that's one of the major constraints on having visitors or any
kind of event yet.
So I'm not really planning to be able to host events until next year (2009).Bridgewood Events
A few people have asked how I'm planning to use Bridgewood for events. I'm not really intending to have big
Saturday night type club events in a marquee - they're not appropriate for
the woodland setting and there are plenty of events like that already. So
think Open Day rather than Club. However, I do want to maintain a
recognition of D/s with a minimal set of rules (the
Byelaws) shared by everyone, so that's more like a golf course than
a completely unstructured grassy park.
I have several types of events in mind: first, general open days where people
we know can come and use the wood for a small donation in any reasonable
way - for example, private
scenes, in groups doing, say, rope bondage or pony play, or with workshops,
BBQs etc organised by us; then themed days
where the emphasis is on one activity, eg a slave hunt, perhaps organised
by an outside group; finally work days, either with self-supervised volunteers,
or with submissives working under direction of their owners or in a chain gang
under Bridgewood's own bailiffs (ie our dungeon monitors). Having said that,
the wood
is big enough for all of these models to co-exist alongside each other
on the same day in many cases, and I'm keen to let people use the space to
go off and do their own thing.
I also have some new types of event in mind, which haven't really been tried
in the UK even in conventional venues. These include "retreats"
where people can explore D/s and how they relate to it more deeply, both by
sharing experiences with peers, and by serving or being served in practical
ways in a simple, primal, and natural environment.
However the wood is being used, I want to establish it as a place run along
D/s lines, where D/s is the norm rather than the exception: as almost a BDSM
equivalent of the "sacred space" woodlands some pagan groups have,
with rules and customs which mark it out as a special place.
Part of this can be with woodland terminology: so "bailiffs" rather
than dungeon monitors, and "byelaws"
rather than rules. The layout of the site and it's
privacy measures will tend to create a feeling of separation
from the everyday world, as can coming round a bend and seeing a gibbet
cage creaking in the breeze. Knowing that some features of the site have
been built with slave labour, or having your kit brought from your
car by a porter chained to his cart all adds to the atmosphere. Finally, the
byelaws themselves can help, although this is the
hardest part due to the
variety and conflicting protocols that individual owners have: once you go
beyond basic rules of safety, respect for private property and conventions
like collars there's little common ground.
Nevertheless, I think the whole project can be made to work as more than
just my private playground and nature reserve, and I'm inspired by
other Open Air BDSM venues to create more than just
an outdoor version of a BDSM club night.
Edited Tue 6 Apr 10, 10:22 PM by Tanos
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