Seven search for the Faraway Tree

Saturday dawned, bright and clear, but still cold and icy. We were in need of supplies, and so was Mike next door. Luckily Mike had been offered a lift to the supermarket with neighbour Michelle, in her sturdy 4wd. I managed to invite myself to the party. Michelle confided that even in her mighty vehicle, she had skidded down on to the A38 the day before. I decided to omit that little story in my reporting to Wayne, who is prone to worrying...

We got to the shop without incident, but I have never seen such crowds in all my born days, not even in the Thursday before Easter in Australia. I reflected that Mum would have slit her throat somewhere in the laundry aisle after half an hour of crowding. I could not find matches, and confided as much to the gent in front of me in the queue to the checkout, which snaked up past the fabric softener. He said, "Mind me trolley," and slipped out and got me some matches in a flash. What a lovely fellow. I whiled away the queue time reading 'The Guardian' and surruptitiously studying my fellow shoppers.

After a very late lunch at home, the Fosters borrowed Mike's children, Will and Sophie, to lead us on an expedition to Threthawle woods. Wayne cajoled our kiddies away from the telly, promising Faraway trees and such. (He also said they could finish the video when we got back). It really wasn't too cold outside, and we needed some fresh air.

So, off the seven trudged. We climbed the fence into the vista of hills mentioned last blog. No sunset - it was 3:30 or so, but it was late afternoon light. Here is a photo of Wayne just past the fence.

We crunched over the lumpy frozen ground, down, down until we reached a thin wood. Here are the children amongst the first trees.

We kept on going down, although it was rather treacherous underfoot. We had to negotiate barbed wire, then there was marsh under the ice. Eventually, we reached a small waterway, and this beaut mossy tree.
Having seen the stream, back up the hill we went. I thought we would retrace our steps, but intrepid Will had other ideas. There was hardly any snow in this south-facing field. I marvelled at the soft turf... no tussocks or prickles in sight. You would be proud to have this grass in your front yard, and yet it was only a cow pasture.

We followed the curve of a hill, and found a sheltered, raised bit of woodland that Will and Sophie called 'The Platform'. We were up to our ankles in dead leaves. There was quite a bit of open space between the trees. I imagine it would be very pretty in the warm weather. Here is Wayne and Eleanor examining a holly tree; and Jack, Eleanor and Will bravely scaling a bit of mossy wall.

Leaving this behind us, we completed a circular track towards home. The duck pond was almost completely frozen. We came up behind our houses, and bumped into Mike coming back from feeding his hens, and Andrew the farmer from checking his stock. We had a chat, and I noticed some interesting birds pecking away at the bottom of a hedge. No one could identify them, but

Mike kindly lent me a little bird book as we went in. They were linnets! I was thrilled... straight out of the poetry book, I thought; "evening full of linnets' wings". What nice neighbours we have.

Inside to the slow cooker issuing lovely savoury smells, "Kleftico-style lamb" today, with interesting tastes of lemon, honey and dates. We are trying a new recipe every day.