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Saturday 4 February 2012

Bits Of Green Between The Winter Colours

We visited the New Forest a couple of weeks ago, to see the oldest oak in England. Or the oldest oak in the New Forest. Or the oldest oak I've ever seen. One of those will be correct.
It was a grand old growth and still alive and carefully looked after.

But the younger trees in the pic below are closer to home and were only planted at the start of the railway era (1830s). They are on a wide bridge over the old railway path from Bishop Auckland to Durham...now known as the Auckland Way and turned into a footpath and bike path.



The Bishop of the time didn't want to see the smoke or soot of the trains and ordered a bridge to be built, wide and deep enough to grow trees to hide the track below. These trees are still growing.

Further into Auckland Park, which the Bishop's carriage would cross on his way to his palace at Bishop Auckland, were ancient meadows for grazing and trees which sheltered the deer. These strange lumps on the old meadows are the remains of ancient ant hills.




These brown lumps are much more modern and show the previous night's efforts of Mr. Mole and his family!


We are now cloaked in a thin but chill layer of white as the snow settles in around us.


Hope the weather is fine where you are.


Cheers Gillian

1 comment:

hippyhat said...

Snow! Ferryhill has it's first proper covering too. I had to cancel my day in Jesmond (for very interesting ChangeCamp+plus psycho workshops). Two buses, a walk, a train and a taxi and then the return at five o'clock, and me with the lurgy t'boot. Nope. Sadly.

We were walking in Auckland Park last sunday, Seaton Carew the week before! I had a trawl through some of your older posts last night and was familier to all,not just home turf, exclaiming Lagos! Silves! Sagres! I wonder how many times our paths have (nearly) crossed?!
Hugs
pamela x