Just had  the stumps removed from all the wind blown.Two giant piles of them. Radical…Did consider for a nano second whether to compete with Prince Charles and create a giant stump rockery, but thought better of it and have an amazing November fifth instead.

The amount of “empty” space is amazing. Hard to imagine that it was covered in bracken, bramble wild raspberry and rose bay willow herb only five days ago.Soon it will be home to a tree nursery with a poly tunnel and a green house for my flowers and veg hopefully.

Where’s the hammock to go now though?

Building work all coming along nicely

The mobile home was moved from it’s temporary place of two years to what will be it’s final resting place yesterday.  Two years of sitting on very,very wet squishy ground meant the wheels had sunk quite deeply.  Also underneath the sunken chassis were large tree stumps. Oh how very rare in our wood!

After about five hours of excavating, by Paul I might add( I held the spade and lugged breeze blogs around while he crawled underneath and dug with his bare hands.We would expect no less from the hard core forester!) we could finally winch the van into place on what,  I sincerely  hope remains drier land, with gorgeous views.

May the transformation begin……….







I went up to the wood today with a bucket full of primroses to plant and saw all these bluebells!

The first year we had the wood the only flowers  we had growing on the forest floor and in the hedge banks  were wood sorrel and a few rather anaemic foxgloves. 

After thinning out and some hedge laying we got brighter, bolder foxgloves, verbascum and  a little bit of herb Robert as well, stitch wort and ofcourse lots and lots of rose bay willow herb on every site where we had been burning the brash.

I have longed for a bluebell wood for almost all my adult life. It’s all about nostalgia, and childhood and a romantic vision of Ingly Dingly Land I held onto when I lived abroad.

At last,this year, they have enough light to re emerge after fifty odd years of sitting there dormant. They were just waiting to feel the sun.

It’s not quite a blanket covering the  the wood floor, but they are back and they will spread, and hopefully in a few years time we can walk in a purple haze and become intoxicated with the scent.

I went ahead and planted loads of primroses that I had dug up from the garden at home. I am just very happy not to have to dig up the bluebells in the garden to transplant now . Much better Heydon Hill having it’s own reawakened sleeping beauties. I am so hoping that we will have bluebells AND primroses blooming next May.

Spring, however much later it arrives on our hill,still manages to surprise and delight every year.

The tiles are on!