We go on a woodland walk near Caldbeck

Today we went in search of Montague Mouse and his woodland friends during a woodland walk at Wigton just outside of Carlisle.

Montague Mouse and his friends, Sebastian Shrew, Maudie Mole and Willie Water Vole live, along with a host of other characters, amongst the trees and shrubs of High Hall Nursery around 12 miles south-west of Carlisle just off the A595.

After parking the car, slightly in the shade to try and keep it a little cool, we were eager to go exploring.  A large noticeboard showed us what we could expect to see and a map of the trail ahead.

We started on the woodland path but after about 30m our attention was drawn to a distant voice coming from behind some of the trees.  Dad thought it was the ‘woodland folk’ and looked all around until he realised a lady was trying to get our attention.  She asked if we wanted a ‘ Find the Woodland Homes ‘ form.  

After a quick drink from a bowl of water supplied at the entrance to the forest trail we set off once again, this time armed with two pencils and a clipboard, in search of the front doors of the  woodland folk.

Recently reopened after the winter the woodland trail was in good condition and ideal for a scamper about.  The notice at the entrance to the forest walk asked if we could stay on our leads and take care to stay on the path.  

Our form had 30 empty spaces, so our challenge was going to be tough however, it wasn’t long before we spotted our first front door nestling at the base of a tree stump almost hidden by the long grass.

One down 29 to go.  Red, blue and green doors all come into sight as we get used to spotting them.  Some of them are low down others a few feet off the ground, but all are visible from the path.

Charlie becomes a bit of an expert and is soon searching for the doorways but he gets distracted as he can hear running water.  

The River Townthwaite is flowing nearby and it is a good job he is on his lead or he would be off down the hill for a paddle.

Red squirrels could occasionally be seen scampering across the path in front of us and in the trees many birds were busy singing their hearts out high in the branches bathed with early spring sunshine.

Crossing a small bridge we return to the car park with five empty spaces on our form.  There is only one thing for it, we will have to go around again.

So another quick drink and we start all over again checking off the doors as we find them.  This time the pace is a lot slower as every tree, stump and hollow is checked for doorways.

Now we are not sure if we were allowed to start the circular path again in search of the woodland folk, but it was a challenge we were going to achieve.

 I found the first of the missing doorways hidden at the bottom of a tall tree and it wasn’t long before all of the doors were found.  

Our celebrations were short lived when we came across another door not previously on our list.  This made 31 doors and only 30 slots on our form,  Oops.

Dad then recounted a phrase he learnt at school just before exams, ‘ Read the question!’

 

We had counted on our list some of the doors marked as ‘Stores’ where the woodland folk would keep provisions for the winter.  

This was incorrect according to the rules of the game, as only houses were to be listed.  

 

After the removal of a few ’stores’ we calculated that we still needed two doors to complete our list.

Esme the Earwig and Tomas Toad’s residences were soon found and our form was complete.

Our walk ended as mum filled in our names on the form and posted it in the competition letterbox  at the entrance to the plant nursery.

A small wooden bridge crossed a moat, designed to keep deer away from this area of the garden, where a small plant nursery was to be found.

Charlie was in his element sniffing all of the garden pots and curios displayed under the many tables containing plants.  

Watering cans, hanging baskets and even an old bike were arranged as if just lifted from a film set or department store window.

Dad said he could have spent hours photographing the bits and pieces especially in the early morning or evening when the light would be just right.

Mum said that many of the plants available for sale in the nursery were different to those found at the usual big garden centres, with many of them suitable for a semi shaded or woodland habitat.  She picked out a few for our garden, whilst dad sat on a small chair in the shadow of the garden shed and we lay on the warm gravel and enjoyed the sunshine.

Worth a visit.

We really enjoyed our walk and sniffs and if you are looking for a simple, easy, non complicated way to spend a couple of hours then High Hall Nursery is ideal.  

It is slightly off the beaten track, so few humans know if its existence. You will not find toilets or a cafe but  you are assured of a friendly welcome and it offers something different and unique from the run of the mill gardening hypermarkets.

We will be back hopefully later in the year to see the arrival of the autumn colours.

 

 

Entrance to the woodland walk and nursery is free (at time of posting).

The walk is just under ½ mile in length and takes you through woodland, which in Spring is full of bluebells, ramsons, and foxgloves, not to mention a variety of fungi.

Website A well written website with some great contents and many  links. You can also download audio files of birdsong and get details of membership of The Friends of the Woodland Folk.  http://www.highhallnursery.co.uk

The address is High Hall Nursery & Woodland Walk, Westward, nr Wigton, Cumbria, CA7 8NQ,

Telephone number 016973 44 308

Brochure available here

Opening Times (2009) available here

GPS data 

• Postcode: CA7 8NQ , 
• Grid Reference: NY269436 , 
• Latitude: 54:46:57N (54.7825)
• Longitude: 3:08:12W (-3.1367)

A Path to Newbiggin

Traveling along the A6 from Carlisle to Penrith you come across a sign to your right indicating Wreay.

So not sure what lies ahead, it maybe the road to nowhere!

After about 2 miles we come across a village green with a church to the right and a pub. 

Parking the car we all get out and go for a run on the village green.

A quick drink before we go exploring and then we set off heading further along the road we came in on.

We join a firm path past some nice houses and onto a tarmac lane leading down a hill.

It looks like this lane has been here for many many years as it is green with slippy moss in the middle.

The hill is not too steep and is shaded by old stone walls on either side.  

A small garden fire was burning behind one of the walls.  The smoke from it highlighted the sun breaking through the overhanging trees and filled the air with a comforting warm smell of hot wood.

Mum looked at the assorted hedges along our route beyond the wall. Holly seemed to be the basic hedging material with gaps filled with metal netting to stop the sheep and cattle escaping.

Continuing down the path, eager to sniff every smell and explore every gap in the fence or wall, the path opened out and we came upon a open view with no trees either side.

Metal railings indicated the approach to a bridge  and we were eager to peer through.

Below us was a big drop to some shiny brown snake like objects which mum called railway tracks. She said that trains use them to ride upon and that they should not be approached as they are dangerous. So we both ran over the bridge to get away and continue our walk.

As we left the bridge mum spotted an apple tree on the side of the embankment.  She wondered how it came to be there and how long it had been in residence.  Was it a discarded apple core from one of the early settlers many hundreds of years ago, she pondered?

The path led on past some allotments and we said hello to one of the gardeners.  He was eating his lunch whilst in his car listening to the radio,  maybe after a hard day harvesting from the smallholding.

The public footpath continued down a banking and to the rivers edge.  But first you had to use this very unusual contraption to get into the field.

A quick look at the steps and we all thought that we would give this a miss today as it had been raining and looked slippy and a little fragile.  So we continued along the solid road up the hill.

We have mentioned on a number of occasions that we love to paddle in water and Buster was the first to discover the stream.

Running alongside the road the trickle of fresh water cooled our paws and refilled our tummies, and you guessed it, made for two soggy doggies. 

Beyond the hedges on this bit of track were animals and crops.  To our left were cows munching on very green grass whilst to our right were soggy fields of corn.

Rustling in the wind the corn stood about 2m tall and if Buster had wanted to play hide and seek we would never have found him amongst it.

The ground, despite being on a hill, looked quite soggy and maybe was why this crop had not yet been harvested.

Dad says that we shouldn’t eat corn as it is bad for us.  Oh joy, another thing we can’t do.

Buster was starting to slow as we climbed the hill so we decided that we should start to make our return back the way we came.  At least it is downhill.

More information

Go to the Heritage & History site to find out more about Wreay

Leaflet about our walk and others in the area

 

Until next time and the rest of our adventures in Wreay.

Charlie and Buster