What a gorgeously sunny day it has been here in this Welsh border town. It’s been hard to do my errands because everyone is so chatty and there are a million interesting things to read. These people take their history SERIOUSLY: all the buildings down the High Street have lists embedded in the pavement of all the people who have lived or worked in that location. The oldest one I read went back to 1382. Even the Tesco’s had this gorgeous tile mural on its entrance showcasing the importance of the town’s activities in trade, technology, and history. The town had invested a lot in making its center a pedestrian and public art friendly place. A perfect place to wander around and relax.
Over the last two weeks, on Exmoor and then again in the Mendip Hills I saw the most creative woodland management for maintaining borders between fields. Laying branches and coppicing trees to build ‘dead hedges’. I think I was able to see examples of the whole process, which cycle through 5 to 15 years, depending on the tree. I thought those trees on top of walls were an environmental “accident”; but no, agriculturists over hundreds of years developed the best way to protect livestock by building up stone or earth walls, then planting trees like beech, oak, willow or other species on top. They then manage these trees by breaking small branches and bending them sideways to build up the hedge. Coppicing larger branches encourages new growth and much of this timber was harvested for various needs in the community. The thick hedges keep animals from spreading disease, small ones from escaping, shade, extra nourishment, and a wind block. They have been critical to other wildlife health, like birds, badgers, foxes. And now they are an important counter to climate change! Here are some photos ranging from new plantings, thin branches left to grow taller, ones recently coppiced and bent over, and a really mature branch sending up new shoots. Finally, one that was left too long and grew to great maturity. I love this old and continuing technology - really working with nature for everyone’s benefit! And they’re beautiful!
Some other things that have caught my eye these last few weeks are the flowers blooming everywhere and the butterflies that are happy to greet them. What a terrific choice of a season to walk through! I’ve seen two types of wild garlic, and smelled it too! My favorite is the one that looks like bursts of fireworks. Along with the bluebells everywhere, the hillsides and woodlands are pure joy. They calm my anxiety and remind me to slow down. The lilac bushes are intoxicating that appear near farms and the outskirts of towns; generous gardeners planting aromatic trees that spill their blossoms over fences. I also spotted a small brilliantly blue egg shell. Whichever bird came out of that must be quite stunning!
The amount of public art has been quite impressive. I particularly liked this sweet homage to our dogs in Bristol. The squirrel on top cracks me up:
‘Let’s celebrate life shared with
4-legged companions ~joy and fun,
Watch them run, so loyal and faithful,
Creating chaos, and yet my sunshine
Doesn’t come from the skies, but comes
From the love in my dog’s eyes.
You’re never friendless if you have ever
Loved a dog.’
Rachel arrived in Chepstow by train from Oxford this evening. I am so grateful and happy she has agreed to walk with me for a week. We caught up over dinner down by the River Wye, near the bridge we are supposed to cross tomorrow. Fortunate choice for dinner because we discovered the bridge is closed! We’ll have to take a longer diversion around it, which is sad because it is a very pretty old iron bridge and would have been a fun place to start. Oh well, flexibility is called for yet again! My progress so far included below.
