Early autumn, near Theydon Bois! Yesterday was gorgeous so we gathered up the hordes of children, grabbed a picnic in Tesco and headed off to Epping Forest for an autumn walk up to Ambresbury Banks, which was allegedly Boudicca's stronghold. Epping - like all good forests - has excellent legends, like the ghost of Dick Turpin, Dick Turpin's cave, Sixteen String Jack and of course Boudicca, the original wild redheaded queen (the other one has a Hunting Lodge named after her not far away in Chingford).
Tove collected a pocket full of acorns, spotted a squirrel (or a 'weee-ul' as she says) and slid down the banks on her bottom, they all climbed on fallen trees and we admired the autumn carpet as you can see in the picture. We really don't take enough advantage of the Forest, it's so lovely and mostly accessible even with the buggy, so we have no excuse! I might make an autumn bracelet now, am feeling a bit inspired...when I have the Jelly Cube bracelets out of the way for Christmas!
I also managed to fit in a 4-mile walk with a friend yesterday, again through part of the Forest though this time sticking to the road towards North Weald - we were lucky enough to see a beautiful stag and his hinds across the road. I know the Forest is full of deer but they are so shy that it's a real privilege to see them, almost as if they are the wood's secrets.
What did you do on the weekend? I hope it wasn't the last gasps of summer - today was warm down by the Thames but allegedly it's Arctic winds and snow for the rest of the week/
No comments:
Post a Comment