“If you go down in the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise…” tra la

“If you go down in the woods today you’d better keep still and quiet…” tra la

As you can see from Steve Bradbury’s lovely illustration (used on our brochure some years ago), you can see badgers in the woods, hear buzzards mewing overhead, spot a heron nesting in high treetops beside the river and even spot a kingfisher if you are really lucky. I’ve never managed to see one of those.

Guests would enjoy seeing the badgers at dusk, and some people would leave bowls of bread and milk outside for them. One lady told me that she had been fortunate enough to snap a photo of the badger through her window (they would come by night, and sometimes invaded the bins!). Unfortunately, when the photo was developed it turned out to be our cat starring centre-stage. A lovely ginger one we used to have.

But – I have a new development to record. In March last year when I was walking down the track through the woods, to my great surprise I saw about three small, agile deer leaping across the path in the distance. I could hardly believe my eyes and later began to wonder whether I had imagined it….

My ambition now is to get a photograph. Apparently people have seen more than three but they are quite shy.