Of a summer evening late,
You will hear the beat of a horse's feet,
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods.
But there is no road through the woods
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods.
But there is no road through the woods
part of The Way Through the Woods by Rudyard Kipling.
A world of beauty, history and magic await when you take a walk through a wildwood. I don't just mean a piece of woodland which has been neglected, or badly managed. I mean truly ancient woodland, a remnant of the woodland which covered the UK after the last Ice Age, 10.000 years ago.
We are lucky enough to have one such just a few fields away.
Impossible to walk there and not get caught up in thoughts of history, magic and pondering on who may have passed along these tracks through the centuries.
Half-open fairy doors, hollow trees, sumptuous green velvet moss and rare lichens lend an air of enchantment. No doubt soon the woodland floor will be a carpet of bluebells, primrose and violets, perhaps celandine and wood anenomes, too.
Nearby are the remains of a Cistercian priory, disbanded after just four hundred or so years, due to poor management! The area is steeped in history, lots of stories.
The recent storms caused a couple of casualties, fallen trees across the pathways. Hidden by one of them I saw
several very old bottles. Can't help wondering how they came to be there, a drinkers secret stash? Rubbish left behind after a picnic?
Who know, and it doesn't really matter, but my imagination is having a field day.
Roll on Spring!
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| Image found on google |
A world of beauty, history and magic await when you take a walk through a wildwood. I don't just mean a piece of woodland which has been neglected, or badly managed. I mean truly ancient woodland, a remnant of the woodland which covered the UK after the last Ice Age, 10.000 years ago.
We are lucky enough to have one such just a few fields away.
Impossible to walk there and not get caught up in thoughts of history, magic and pondering on who may have passed along these tracks through the centuries.
Half-open fairy doors, hollow trees, sumptuous green velvet moss and rare lichens lend an air of enchantment. No doubt soon the woodland floor will be a carpet of bluebells, primrose and violets, perhaps celandine and wood anenomes, too.
Nearby are the remains of a Cistercian priory, disbanded after just four hundred or so years, due to poor management! The area is steeped in history, lots of stories.
The recent storms caused a couple of casualties, fallen trees across the pathways. Hidden by one of them I saw
several very old bottles. Can't help wondering how they came to be there, a drinkers secret stash? Rubbish left behind after a picnic?
Who know, and it doesn't really matter, but my imagination is having a field day.
Roll on Spring!
Oh, how very cool!
ReplyDeleteEverything is quietly getting ready for Spring!
DeleteLove the moss on the trees and fairy doors.
ReplyDeleteThe moss is fabulous, very tempted to dig out my macro lens to look for the magical worlds within.
Deletewere the bottles under the tree as it was growing?
ReplyDeleteTight up to the tree trunk, Sol and buried deep in the leaves and humus, so that only the bases and tops were visible. I lifted them out to have a look.
ReplyDelete