Cotswolds

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NaPoWriMo 6 ~ A Good hare Day

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For NaPoWriMo on day 6 there was a simpler challenge than Saturday’s thank goodness. We were asked to look out of a window and write a poem using what we observed. Having to be always contrary I decided to look into windows instead.
This is because I went to Cirencester to see the March Hare Festival.

A dreary day in the Cotswolds,
Wind blows and cold rain drizzles down
Stone cottages are looking weathered and worn,
Daunted daffodils and bluebells bend low
Agitated pheasants scurry, flapping over Ermin Way,
Committed we continue, to Cirencester for the day.

Like Brigadoon this market town appears out of the mist,
One of those magic moments, a place by angels kissed.
A colourful celebration reflecting local life is underway;
A Festival of March Hares, some dazzling some restrained,
In windows, doorways, churches and shops creatively displayed

Cultured, cosmopolitan and colourful vignettes,
Cameos of ancient times are captured in mosaic,
Homages to industry, hospitality, trade and faith
Veterans of two world wars amusingly portrayed
Childhoods caught in acrylic, nature, myths and legends true
Captured by artistic celebrities, dignitaries and ordinary people too

Visitors and residents alike, excited and involved
Chat, sharing what they have found, advise, inspire, enthuse
Pubs overflow with merriment, cafes are buzzing too
Music pours from the Brewery Arts, crafters’ skills on show
Working in glass and gold and silver, in wood and pottery and silk,
Local artists interpret the world in paint and pen and ink.

In recent years there has been a spate of large ceramic or stone objects appearing in towns and cities of the UK. Having mentioned it to my daughter last night I know that they have been seen in the USA too. The first time I came across it was when my grandchildren, Ben and Rosie went to London and were photographed alongside large colourful elephants. Wallace and Gromit were in Bristol recently too.
Next I heard of a Gorilla festival in Torbay and Exeter. There was also a festival of decorated horses in Cheltenham in honour of the races. Now there are 5 foot tall hares in Cirencester.
Why hares you might wonder?
Well Cirencester was a very important place in Roman times. It was called Corinium and had very good road links to the rest of the UK, such as Ermin Way and the Fosse Way. In 1971 during an archeological dig in Beeches Road near to the River Churn, a Roman mosaic was discovered depicting a hare. The original is now on show in the Corinium Museum. Hence the theme of hares for this festival. There will be about 50 hares around the town eventually. Most of them will be 5 foot tall and decorated by local people including schoolchildren, members of the public, celebrities and artists. All of the large hares are named to reflect their sponsors. One of the most beautiful hares is on display in the Corinium and it is named Tess.
Apart from the large hares there are lots of smaller hares dotted around the town and there are prizes for discovering and photographing them. I think I will have to go back as I only found 10 large ones! I did however find the solid chocolate one which weighs 10kg in a lovely little chocolatiers called ‘Lick the Spoon’.
The festival does have a serious purpose which is to boost trade and tourism in the town. Judging by how much money I spent yesterday they are going to be very successful!
They are also aiming to raise the £50,000 needed for Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to begin to develop the Green Hare Churn Walkway around the River Churn in Cirencester. This new trail project will involve schools and community groups and will have lasting benefits for residents and visitors alike. The hares will be auctioned off at the end of the festival to raise the funds.
I hope they do well as we had a wonderful day, and we will certainly be going back. The Festival of Hares is on until 14th September and is well worth a visit at any age. To give you a helping hand I have listed the names of the hares that are on display at the moment and where you can find them. Tomorrow there will be more as phase two will be hidden around the town! Some of them are in schools which won’t be open now til after the holidays.

Bare Hare at the Agricultural College
Harry, King of the Hill at Kingshill School
Mr Harebushes at Organic farm Shop, Burford Road
Via Albatine at Whiteway Workshops
Harebelle at the Twelve Bells
Flame, The Phoenix Wayfarer at Phoenix Way
Hareoh the Phareoh at St John Baptist Church
Whare’s Davey in Davey Law Offices
Haretherop in Waterstones Bookshop
Harriet in Mistral Clothes Shop
Harold O’Hare in Zippy Pix Photo Shop
Hartley in 51 Dyer Street
Harrison in Hampton’s Estate Agents
Daniel George in Bishop’s Walk
Hopportunity Hare in Cirencester opportunity Group
Corina at the Corinium Hotel
Tess at the Corinium Museum
General Lievre at Gardiner Haskins
Harelequin at Beeches House
Miles, the Millionhare at Limes hair Company
Wooly Jumper outside the Fleece
Madame Butterfly at McGill’s Chartered Accountant
Hicarus at Cotswold Airport
Eostra at Rendcomb College
Sign the Hare at Bingham House

Tess before and after she was decorated
Tess at the Corinium
Tess at the Corinium
Hareoh the Phareoh
Hareoh the Phareoh
Gerry adding his contribution
General Lievre
General Lievre
Tess covered in Mosaics at the Corinium Museum
Tess covered in Mosaics at the Corinium Museum
Ceramic hares
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NaPoWriMo 4 ~ Lune

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Today we were prompted to write a Lune
This is rather like a Haiku which I normally write but instead of 5/7/5 syllables it takes the form of 3/5/3 words.
My attempt is a bit of a cheat as it is both a Haiku and a Lune!

Walking in woodland
Blessed with glimpses of heaven
Revealed in nature

The weather is so beautiful today, the cloud of pollution has lifted and the sky is clear. Obviously the charm I wrote yesterday for NaPoWriMo worked and dispelled the toxic smog!
Spring is such an exquisite time of year in the Cotswolds that I just have to quote Thomas Traherne, the 17th century Poet and Mystic

“Heaven! Is not that an Endless Sphere
Where all thy Treasures and thy Joys appear?
If that be Heaven it is Evrywhere

Taking a walk near The Manor by the Lake today all I can hear is the song of the birds. I feel the warm sun on my face and a soft breeze blows through the trees. A confused woodpecker is pecking at a flagpole on top of the old manor house, which has just been converted into a boutique hotel. Ducks are swimming purposefully on the lake to distract me from their island nests. There is white blossom on the trees. Magnolia is in full bloom and the ground is strewn with daffodils. Just metres away in one direction, is the new ASDA superstore, and in the other, is the litter strewn A40. But here, by the lake, nature’s treasures fill me with joy and I am in heaven.

Walking in woodland
Blessed with glimpses of heaven
Revealed in nature

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Winter

This is my first Haiku for HaikuSpielen.This week’s theme is Winter. here in Gloucestershire the overwhelming thing about this winter, as in Somerset, is the never ending rain. Combined with high Spring Tides on the River Severn this has led to major flooding in some areas.

Flooding in Gloucestershire 4
February flood
Drains and ditches overflow
Farmers’ winter woe

flooding in Gloucestershire 2 ~ the pub

Farms and fields submerged

River Severn breaks its banks

Washes the landscape

Flooding in Gloucestershire 3 ~ Tewkesbury Abbey

photos from BBC Gloucestershire or Gloucestershire Echo our local newspaper

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Snowdrops

Thanks to reading one of my favourite blogs I remembered that the flower of the day is the snowdrop. I already have snowdrops and hellebores appearing in my garden as the weather is so mild here so I thought I would repost some of the photos I have taken of these flowers in the past. I live near the Rococo gardens at Painswick, a place I have blogged about several times. According to The Independent Newspaper in 2008,

The Rococo Garden has one of the largest naturalistic plantings of snowdrops in the country and is in many ways the spiritual home of Galanthus Atkinsii.

Although many believe the Romans introduced snowdrops they are more likely to have been brought to England in the early 16th Century. Galanthus nivalis is native to a large tract of mainland Europe from the Pyrenees in the west, through France and Germany to Poland in the north, Italy, Northern Greece and European Turkey.

Most of the other species Galanthus come from the eastern Mediterranean, though several are found in South Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Galanthus fosteri comes from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Israel.
More photos are at the following links:
Springtime http://wp.me/p2gGsd-MW
Snowdrops and Hellebores http://wp.me/p2gGsd-ET

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My 15 minutes of Fame!

Me on set with Tom Chambers

Me on set with Tom Chambers

It has been such an unusual and exciting week for me.  While I was on holiday in Cornwall, I got a call from a casting agent about doing some filming as a supporting artist for a BBC production of a TV series.  I had not auditioned or even applied for a part so I was very surprised and a little puzzled.  However the explanation was simple.  Earlier this year, I helped some students at the local university in the making of a short and very moving film, for their degree course.  In order to complete the whole project professionally I had to register with an agency which I did.  The film, “The Day My Name Changed” was produced, directed, shot and edited successfully.  One of the students was kind enough to write a glowing comment on the agency’s website about me, which apparently had been picked up by a casting agent who was looking for people of just my age and type.

So it was that I found myself working this week in the Cotswold countryside alongside professional actors I have admired for years.

The TV series is called Father Brown and it is set in some of the most beautiful Cotswold villages, which is perfect for me as I live nearby.   This will be the second series of the 1950’s drama based on stories by the author GK Chesterton, and starring Mark Williams who played Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films.  The character Father Brown, who wears trademark shabby robes and a misshapen hat, is a bicycle-riding, crime-fighting, Roman Catholic Priest in the series. Sorcha Cusack plays the Parish secretary, Mrs McCarthy.

I can’t tell you the storyline or the other characters in the series we were filming for professional reasons but I can say the whole experience was fascinating and really enjoyable, if a little exhausting!

I was told to arrive on set by 7am prepared to work for up to 12 hours.  First I had to go to a costume area where I found everything hung up on hangers or bagged with my name on them.  There were underclothes from the 50’s including corsets, petticoat, suspenders and stockings with seams.  There was a hat, gloves, shoes, a handbag and a pair of glasses, all genuine 1950’s.  There was a dress and matching jacket.  Once I had got into all of this on one of the hottest days of the year I was a bit uncomfortable!  Next it was into the makeup and hairdressing area.  Here there were several superb makeup artists and hairdressers equipped with whole tables of boxes and bags of exciting things ~ brushes of every size and thickness, rollers of every colour and type, hairgrips and combs by the dozen, and more makeup than I had ever seen!

These wonderful artists sat me down and transformed me with heated rollers then pinned on my blue hat.  A covering of mat makeup and pink lipstick as per 1950 and I was done!

I hardly recognised myself and I thought I looked ancient and awful but everyone else seemed to think I looked ok so off I went to be photographed by Continuity.  The continuity people are amazing and very important when filming.  As shots are not necessarily filmed consecutively it is really important that every detail is right.  The arm holding the handbag, gloves on or off, the right glasses on, hair still in place, makeup still on ~ the continuity people are checking and photographing constantly.

When everyone had been through costume, makeup, hair and continuity, it was time to line up for more photographs and an inspection for approval by the Director of Costumes.  At this point details could be checked and adjustments made.  Hats swapped, jewellery dispensed or removed, cardigans and jackets altered on the spot, shoes changed ~ his word was final.  Only when he was happy were we allowed to get onto a minibus to be taken to the actual set for the filming.

It was at this point I felt like a real star as we were treated so well.  Everyone on the crew from the driver to the director knew each of our names.  They have a list of the actors and supporting artists with photographs and are expected to know them by name.  We were given bottles of water during breaks, coffee and tea was available at any time, and a lovely cooked lunch was provided from a big catering van, which everyone used from the most important to the least.  There were crew buses which everyone sat together on to eat lunch.  After lunch everyone had to go through costume, makeup, hairdressing, photographs, continuity and inspection again to make sure nothing had changed.  Then off in the bus for an afternoon of filming.

The whole experience was wonderful, and, at the end of the day, 5 of us were asked to stay behind for late filming.  I was really excited to be one of the 5 chosen.  Suddenly a sleek 1950’s black car drove smoothly down the road and stopped right where we were filming and out stepped one of my favourite stars from Casualty who was also a winner of one of the best shows on TV in the winter, “Strictly Come Dancing” ~ Tom Chambers!

I can’t tell you what he was doing there but I was tickled pink to be on set with him and to have my photograph taken with him.

It was a long day and it was very hot.  It was uncomfortable wearing all those 1950’s clothes and the stiletto heeled and pointy-toed shoes were killing me. I still think I looked awful.  But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.  I enjoyed every minute and I got to do it all over again on Thursday in a different village wearing a different costume.

I do hope they ask me again!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/posts/Tahsin-Guner-and-Rachel-Flowerday-on-developing-new-BBC-One-daytime-drama-Father-Brown

http://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/father-brown-tv-review.html

Me on set with Tom Chambers
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Cotswold Colours Today

Gracious today has been a visual feast in the Cotswolds.  I had to drive from Cheltenham to the market town of Moreton in Marsh along the A429.  There can be no more beautiful stretch of road in the world than this.   It is part of the ancient Roman Fosse Way.  Unfortunately, it is a single carriageway, rural road and there are very few opportunities to stop and just stare at the views.  But I managed to find a farm track where I could park to take some photos on my phone.  As I drove along, I saw fields of blue Linseed, green crops, yellow rapeseed, red poppies and golden earth.  At one point I looked over the wildflower strewn hedgerow to see 3 fields of soft blue Linseed; in the near distance there were fields of vivid yellow rapeseed; and in the far distance a startlingly red field of poppies.  The colours took my breath away.

I saw a dry stone waller at work and a thatcher and  arrived in Moreton to find the market in full flow.

Rapeseed field ripening in the Cotswolds
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The Ivy Church at Ampney St Mary in the Cotswolds

This ancient little church is a little gem which I normally drive right past on my way to pick up the grandchildren from school.  It sits off the busy A417 which goes from Cirencester to Fairford.  Today I decided to stop and have a look around.  It was a bit drizzly but I still managed to get some photographs which I will put in a gallery for you to enjoy.

It is very ancient with the remains of a stone cross in the grounds where travelling monks would have given sermons originally.  The church itself was built of local limestone rubble around 1250 and it has a very simple interior.  Unusually it has a stone screen separating the nave from the chancel, or the people from the altar.  It probably had a wooden screen over this with a crucifix on it in the early days.  Originally there would have been no furniture or pews, just rushes on the stone floor where the people stood to hear Mass.  Most of the windows looked leaded to me and one is particularly unusual as it is set in a single piece of carved stone.  There is a very pretty bell tower which has a Sanctus Bell in it made about 1747 in Gloucester by Abel Rudhall.  It carries the motto, “Peace and Good Neighbourhood”.

Above there is a very rugged looking wagon vault roof of oak beams.

The oldest things in the church are probably the original stone entrance archway which is now sealed up.  On the outside, above this arch there is an ancient carving of a lion stamping on a two-headed serpent, representing good conquering evil. There is a griffon looking on.  Apparently it is the only one of its kind in England.  Inside the church there is a Norman stone font which is complete.  Then there is the beautiful arched door which is ancient and solid made from elm or oak.  It has the original metal hinges and handles.

Best of all inside are the remnants of wall paintings which were defaced then plastered over after the reformation.  There are intriguing bits of these paintings gradually being revealed but you have to look very hard to make them out.  I saw a face which I am sure is the Virgin Mary.  I saw a number of saints including St Christopher with the infant Jesus.  But try as I might I could not find St George and the dragon who is supposed to be depicted somewhere on the walls.

The history of this simple rural church is like a Disney story.  The parish in common with much of England was hit by the Black Death in medieval times.  So after 1350 the entire village with its remaining inhabitants was moved to higher ground in a nearby village.  Any cottages left fell into ruins.  The church was used less and less until eventually it was abandoned.  Ivy grew over it until it was entirely covered, disappeared, and was forgotten.  Doesn’t it have shades of Sleeping Beauty?   A century ago in 1913 it was discovered again and all the ivy removed to reveal this lovely little gem of history.  Since then it has been restored but with all its original features preserved.

The churchyard has a little stream running around it and a stone bridge which leads to a little wooded area.  Beyond this there is Ampney Brook which was in full flow today.  The ancient dry stone walls leading to the church from the brook are still there and I felt strange thinking of all those villagers of long ago who had trodden this same path to get to their little church.  Some had maybe lived through the Black Death and floods which were the ruin of their way of life.  Today there is a deep peace about the place and I am so glad I stopped to visit the Ivy Church.

Ampney Church of St Mary
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Eccentric ~ Haiku

This post is for Haiku heights prompt word ‘Eccentric’

Everything about Warwick Castle was eccentric when we visited at the weekend.  The theme was ‘Horrible Histories’ so there were knights in armour and princesses, dragons and wizards in the towers as well as scarily lifelike waxwork models of kings, queens and nobility.

But the most eccentric things were the peacocks which seemed intent on stealing the show with their courtship and flying displays.  I have never seen a peacock perch so high in a tree before!

He shows no restraint

With his flamboyant display

Attracting a mate

Flirty Feathers

I missed the deadline for the Stone Haiku in which I posted lots of pictures of Warwick castle so please do click on the link and read it! http://wp.me/p2gGsd-U4

Meanwhile here are some more photos for you to enjoy

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Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley in my lounge
Bluebells
Azalea
Lily of the Valley in the garden
Bleeding heart plant
Cherry Blossom
Lily of the valley
Two robins in the garden

May has got to be one of the most beautiful times of the year here in the Cotswolds.  In my garden at the moment there is such a variety of blossom.  We have several varieties of apple, two kinds of pear, a cherry tree and a quince all covered in blossom.  The hellebores are almost over but there are still a few tulips and primroses.  The blue bush, whose name I can never remember, is covered in flowers and the orange azalea is amazing.  But the piece de resistance has got to be the Lily of the Valley.  I did not plant these, they were already naturalised when we moved in ~ but they are superb.  They are prolific under my pear trees.  The perfume that surrounds them is just beautiful.  There are so many in our garden that I picked a couple of bunches on Sunday.  I brought one indoors where the perfume fills the room.  I gave the other bunch to a lovely local lady when I took her some rhubarb I had just picked.  The rhubarb is another thing that seems to love our soil as it grows really well.  Unfortunately my husband is not allowed to eat it now that he is on dialysis so I tend to give it away.

Lily of the Valley is a native of Britain. The 16th century Gerard’s Herbal decries it as “growing on hampstead Heath, four miles from London, in great abundance@”  I must remember to check if it still grows there.   It used to be a tradition here to give bunches of Lily of the Valley on May 1st.  It still is in France I believe, where the flowers are called Muguet.

In 1851 Queen Victoria commissioned a special painting to commemorate 1st May.  It was a very special year for her as it was Prince Arthur’s first birthday, the 82nd birthday of the Duke of Wellington who was the Prince’s grandfather, and the opening day of the Great Exhibition.  Of course Lily of the Valley featured prominently in the painting with the Duke of Wellington presenting a posy to the Queen, Prince Albert and the young prince Arthur.  The painting was completed by Franz Xaver Winterhalter and is in the style of the adoration of the Magi which seems rather irreverent to me but was a sign of the times I guess.

Queen Victoria wearing the George III Tiara (T...

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Believe in yourself

Laughter and Lyrics Choir

Laughter and Lyrics Choir

Yesterday was very emotional for me in so many ways.  I belong to a choir called “Laughter and Lyrics” which meets every Friday morning in the restaurant of the Everyman Theatre.  We have only been singing together for a few months and we are all of different ages and from varied backgrounds.  But I think we gel as a choir and make a beautiful sound together.  Of course singing is very emotional at any time but yesterday was especially so as we had been invited to sing at a service to celebrate the life of the much loved father of one the ladies in the choir.  The service was in a beautiful little church in one of the most idyllic villages in the Cotswolds, Dumbleton, and the sun shone on it.

As I sang in that beautiful church with our choir of wonderful ladies I felt privileged to be there, blessed to be alive, and grateful to be me.

One of the songs we are practicing for our show in July is “Believe”, written by Lin Marsh.

It is often sung at final assemblies here in the UK when pupils are moving on to a new school.  It is so uplifting and affirming.

I hope you enjoy listening to this  You Tube version of it, and know that it is meant for you.

 

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Splashes of sunshine

Golden rapeseed spread
Thickly on the countryside
Fields splashed with sunshine

On a coach trip to London yesterday for one of Gerry’s hospital appointments it was a joy to see fields of Rapeseed bursting into bloom. I know lots of people find that rapeseed gives them headaches or breathing problems, but it made my heart sing to see the countryside spread thickly with golden sunshine.

Rapeseed fields high up in the Cotswolds

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Breeze haiku

Nightingale at Cotswold Water Park

Nightingale at Cotswold Water Park

As gentle breeze blows

Nightingales in bushes sing

Sublime serenade

Nightingales in bushes sing

Nightingales in bushes sing

 Gazing on Taize

Sunflowers bow to the breeze

And my spirit soars

Sunflowers bow to the breeze

Sunflowers bow to the breeze

 Boughs bend to the breeze

Covering the earth in a

Blanket of blossom

Ornamental cherry

Ornamental cherry

 Watching butterflies

Their beauty borne on the breeze

I can barely breathe

butterfly-eating

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Springtime

The weather is so beautiful today and Spring is so exquisite that I just have to repeat a quote from Thomas Traherne  the 17th century Poet & Mystic

“Heaven! is not that an Endless Sphere
Where all thy Treasures and thy Joys appear?
If that be Heaven it is Evrywhere
…
Heaven surely is a State and not a Place
To be in Heaven’s to be full of Grace
Heaven is wherever we see God’s face.”

I recently took a walk in Painswick to see the snowdrops at the Rococo Gardens.  By the lake children were playing and birds were singing.  The sky was blue and the soft breeze blowing through the trees was chilly but welcome.  The snowdrops were beautiful and the company was great.  It is one of those special places, a sacred space filled with peace and natural beauty, which justify Traherne’s words.
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Picture Perfect Painswick

I went to Painswick yesterday to eat carrot cake and to see the snowdrops at the Rococo gardens ~ failed on both counts but had a great time enjoying spectacular scenery in wonderful company.  Painswick is quite high up in the Cotswolds so the snow is much deeper there and lasts far longer than down in the town.  But we had a lovely time, so here for my friends are my impressions in picture and haiku.  Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, I forgot my camera and had to use my phone!  ~

Ice daggers dangle

from ancient lead gutters on

St Mary’s lych gate

St Mary's Lych gate

St Mary’s Lych gate

Snow covered Yew trees

in picture perfect Painswick

Christmas card village

St Mary's Churchyard

St Mary’s Churchyard

Sun sets on Painswick’s

 honeyed stone cottages, and

cold Cotswold churchyard

 

Rococo gardens at Painswick

Rococo gardens at Painswick

White winter woodland,

following in the footprints

of the fallow deer

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Small stones 7 ~ snowdrops and hellebores

Spring was in the air today.  The hellebores flowers are just about open in my garden and the snowdrops are already out at the Rococo gardens.  I love this time of year.

Our local newspaper (Gloucestershire Echo) today reported that,

SNOWDROPS have started to bloom at a garden in Painswick following a mild start to the new year.

With temperatures hovering around the 10C mark so far this January, dozens of the white flowers have emerged earlier than expected at Rococo Garden.

  1. ​blooming: Snowdrops on the hidden slopes of the Rococo Gardens, Painswick. Inset, Paul Hervey-Brookes.
  1. blooming: Snowdrops on the hidden slopes of the Rococo Gardens, Painswick.

Paul Hervey-Brookes, garden adviser at Rococo, said: “They usually start to bloom around the second week of January and the last to flower finish by the end of March.

“But because it has been mild this year so far, they have been tricked into thinking it is later in January than it is, and they have started to come out.”

Temperatures are predicted to plummet in Gloucestershire this week, but Paul says the snowdrops will survive.

He said: “The cold weather will not kill them, it will just stop their bloom, and then they will continue when it starts to get milder.”

Forecasters are predicting a progressive drop in temperature as the week goes on, with a night time low of -1C possible by Thursday.

There should be a let up for areas affected by flooding, as no heavy rain is predicted.

Snowdrops at Painswick Rococo Garden
I happened to be at Painswick when the sun was shining, the views long, the trees magnificently silhouetted against a blue sky. I like trees better in winter than summer. The form becomes the chief point of them, not just the mass of green that is all we see in summer. And because the situation of the Painswick garden is so extraordinary, you get long views both across and down, snowdrops clothing the steep banks below the renovated Eagle House, snowdrops, many of them fat doubles, thick on the grassy bank that leads up to the viewpoint above the maze, snowdrops down by the fish pond and the square, rather dark plunge pool where surely only the most muscular of Victorians would have wanted to plunge. A bonus at Painswick was the best bank of winter-flowering cyclamen I’ve ever seen, pink and magenta Cyclamen coum seeding itself through the grass with an abandon I could only envy.

The Independent 2008

synchronised swimming
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Nature

Having just come back from a restorative week in the log cabin by the fishing lakes, I am full of the sights and sounds of nature. So I have written for this week’s Haiku Heights prompt word which very conveniently is Nature!

Alone with my thoughts

Recharging my batteries

Immersed in nature

Sunset at Hillview

Walking in woodland

I catch glimpses of heaven

Revealed in nature

Butterfly in the Forest of Dean

Cormorants circle

Round reservoir full of fish

And herons hover

A cormorant resting

In ancient woodland

Birch, Rowan and Oak survive

And sweet chestnuts thrive

Forest of Dean at Lindors Country retreat House

Mosses and lichens

Green carpeted forest floor

Celtic rainforest

 

The Forest of dean

Is a haven for wildlife

As nature intended