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

Who lives here?

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.  

Woodland houses not 'To Let'

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.

Charlie enjoys his walk

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.

Found another house dad ...

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!’

Charlie inspects some of the plants

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.

The 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)

What  a busy weekend we have had.  We have already mentioned our inspection of the flood defences and the works going on at a nearby garden but we also got involved in a world record attempt.

Charlie sits by his stone

Towards the end of last week we got a message from the Britglyph project who are trying to recreate a very big image out of stones.

The idea of pictures marked out on the ground, a geoglyph,  is not new and dates back thousands of years, but for this piece of art it is set to be one of the biggest.

People throughout the country have been traveling to a number of set locations with a stone and a camera.

Once in position they record their visit as a photograph and leave the stone behind.

Once all the stones are in place an image, based on  John Harrison’s Chronometer H5, will be visible on a map.

The project is being supported by by Shozu and Moblog

We get involved

It was decided that our stone should be placed in Carlisle near to the castle.

Charlie sat next to the stone we had chosen and had his photo taken.  This photo would join the many others on the Britglyph website when we returned home.

My dad had to help us upload the image to the website. He had a few problems until Alfie, from the website, got in touch and sorted things out.

You can now see Charlie sitting next to his rock just next to Carlisle Castle on their website.  

Once the photo was taken we moved the rock to the side of the castle wall, so that it is out of the way of any grass cutting equipment, but still nearby for the world record attempt.

Get involved

You still have time to get involved as a few of the stones have not been placed.  Go along to The Britglyph Project and Own a Moment.

We will let you know as soon as we know if the record attempt has been successful.