Sleeping places

I have arrived in the middle of the Netherlands near Amersfoort in the forest of the Stoutenburg castle (a castellated 19th century building now but there has been a castle, or fortified house, here since the 13th century). The castle is used by the Franciscan Ecological Project which aims to improve the relationship between man and nature in the spirit of St Francis of Assisi. A community of people live there on that basis.

We are staying in the forest that surrounds the castle (there is not much of it left now after so much clearance for agriculture) and the first task of the afternoon was to cover the tipi for shelter for the next few nights. With many layers of blankets on the ground and a fire burning in the hearth in the middle the tipi was surprisingly warm. It hasn't rained so I don't know how much water gets through the opening for the smoke to escape. There is a second layer of tenting inside the tipi to about 1.5m so I guess quite a lot of water or condensation runs down the inside under the right conditions.