I have been checking my OS map for different possible routes and today Friday decided on a walk down through the village and then along a lane called Pingry Lane then right along a footpath and back through the woods and home.
Pingry lane was delightful with lots of wildflowers, the Lesser Celandine is still flowering along with Primrose and Wood Anemone, but now is being joined by the first Bluebells and some Stichwort. There was masses of Dog’s Mercury, also still flowering but its flowers are small and green so do not get noticed.
We found the footpaths on the right and I knew from my map (which I had not taken with me that we had to take the left hand one of the two possibilites. We did that but then it all went wrong. Part of the problem was that the area is obviously used by Quad bikes and motor bikes so there are churned up paths all over the place and so it is not obvious which way to go also no more footpath sign posts.
We went this way and that, we saw a huge Solar panel ‘farm’ we had seen it before, in the distance but this was closer.
We ended up in an area known as Puzzlewood. This is a magic woodland area that is now closed due to the virus but has often been used by film crews. Some pretty famous stuff;
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010)
- Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
- The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016)
- The Secret Garden (2020)
To name a few. Anyway we retraced our steps and then found a bit we recognised and came back down to the village and eventually home.
Along this final stretch we were blessed by the sight of some young lambs, always a delight…. Fortunately we have pork for Sunday lunch this week and by next week I will have forgotten how sweet they were.
Apologies to Boris but we were out for one hour and forty minutes, however on Wednesday we only did forty five minutes if that helps.
Woodland Wild flowers 