Old growth forest with barrows from the 11th century.
A public path.
Beautiful old landowners home.
Dottie walking the public paths.
Sloeberries.
Elderberries.
Blackberries.
Monday,
September 4th.
Today was a day
spent almost entirely on the computer getting my trips and documents
sorted. Denise and I have been booking things for a couple of months,
but I hadn't really organized them and carefully connected the dots
to make sure that all our bases were covered. So, after breakfast,
when Dottie and John both went to work, I settled down on the dinning
room table and got started. I had saved all the e-mails that Denise
had sent and I had to go through them checking the attachments of
invoices and electronic tickets. I entered all the dates, and flight
and trip details into a spreadsheet that I started back home. I made
sure the dates all worked and then checked the trip itineraries and
compiled a list of dates and places I'll be. I can't believe how much
of the day that took to do, but I now feel better and feel ready for
the next adventures.
When Dottie came
home she asked if I wanted to go for a walk. We headed off and into
the forest and fields around her house. She lives at the edge of the
suburb and the country is literally across the road.
As we walked she
told me about the history of the area. I had commented about the
hedgerows that separate all the fields in England and make such a
beautiful patchwork quilt from the air. She told me that Henry VIII
started them. After he abolished all the monasteries he had the lands
divided into fields whereby he could award sections to worthy knights
or members of court and sell other bits to rich men who would in turn
rent or lease the land in plots to peasants who would farm it. They
could then be controlled and taxes could be applied to everyone.
Around every
field there is a public path. Some are very narrow and are on the
edge of fields, others are in the forests and still others have
become the modern paved roads now that cars have replaced horses and
walking. The owners of the fields are responsible for keeping the
paths open and clear.
In addition, in
the forest there was an area that had sections of raised land that
Dottie had read were basically the slag heaps and landfill areas of
the people who lived here in the Iron Age of the 11th
century!
Along the hedges
we found blackberry bushes (which were delicious), sloeberries (which
they use to make sloegin) and elderberries.
We walked for an
hour before she had to return to pick up Innie from her playdate.
John made dinner tonight as Dottie was having an in-house manicure
and pedicure. After dinner John and I watched part two of the show
from last night. It is based on a book written by JK Rowling under a
male pseudonym, based on a private investigator named Striker.
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