Long time no Post

We had a great summer, lots of camping on the field, including the inaugural Dovefest. It was a great weekend of campfires, music, kite flying , face painting and more. Sutton's circus was a big highlight, headlining the main stage. Something for us all to aspire to next year. I took loads of digi-film and hoped to produce a short feature, maybe even a full on hour long rockumentary, but I have managed to lose all of it. Doh. So all I have is a few shots which don't do the weekend justice.

There was some great music played, Saturday night's folk jam from Becky (accordion) Liz (fiddle) and Gerry (guitar) and not forgetting Josh's special Lou Reed composition for Simon. I have great memories of kids running around in the dark with glow sticks, Saturday morning cricket match and Wilf Sutton stealing the show.

The trees look fabulous, some of them now 8ft tall, which seems remarkable considering we planted them as 18in youngsters only 3 years ago.

Now the field is covered in snow, the land hard and cold. This winter we plan to put in lots of bulbs and more trees once the ground allows. Hopefully plant some fruit trees and see how they get on.

Dads and Lads

" He that plants trees loves others besides himself " Thomas Fuller

Some male bonding last weekend with a lads and dads camping night. An epic footie match, Young versus Old, ending in a 16-16 draw, followed by campfire sparklers, chinese lantern and some fairly tuneless guitar playing.

Loo with a View

"The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more" Ralph Waldo Emerson

Camping at the field has now become a much more luxurious affair after the primitive bog was installed. A spade, an old arm chair, some bits of wood and a loo seat and hey presto!

Spring time

" I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do" Willa Cather

There's been lots of sping time visits to the field. Philip had put 7 ewes and 13 lambs on to graze and we had great fun helping him herd them back into the trailer when it was time for them to move on. Lucas and Theo felt like proper shepherds.

Loads of dandelions appearing everywhere, somehow we need to work out how to encourage more interesting wild flowers to grow too. We've seen barn owls, rabbits, hares and a field mouse. And there's been some great nights staying over, with camp fires and star gazing.

a tree for Anya

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long ago"- Warren Buffet

We had a trip to the field on Sunday. It was a lovely sunny but cold afternoon. We sat in the car, eating soup and sandwiches, before we ventured out to plant some more trees. We planted some hazel, hawthorn and plum cherry and most importantly Anya planted her own tree. She had chosen a Scot's pine and was very pleased with herself. There were still some snowdrops out, and lots of daffodils beginning to come through. We finished off with a game of football which Lucas and Theo won 10-8 in the final minute.....

"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit."
Nelson Henderson

A few memories of last summer. Remember warmth and sunshine?

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Chinese Proverb


10 years ago when Susy and I got married we decided to plant a wood. Our friends and family gave us trees and eventually in 2006 we found a perfect little field in Dovedale in The Peak District. In March of that year at her first ever land auction, Susy, with her friend Sue, successfully bidded for Lot no.1 and our dream was born. The first tree we planted was an oak tree for Susy's dad Bill, who had loved our idea. Since then we have planted over 200 trees, as well as hundreds of daffodils, bluebells, snowdrops and cowslips.
We have been helped by a great local farmer,Philip, who's farm you can see on the main photo. He has helped us mend and make fences, cut the grass for hay, grazed the land with his sheep, as well as pulling mud-stuck camper vans out with his tractor.
Susy and I have spent fantastic days on the field, through all weathers, planting trees, fence building, digging in bulbs and just enjoying the peace. Bendle helped out with days of fence building, teaching me about sheep netting and fence post hammers.
The sky is often alive with the songs of skylarks, we see and hear curlew and summer swallows and have disturbed resting pheasant and hares. The kids follow the badger tracks, fly kites and learn which nettles are safe to touch.
There have been great nights of camping, with fire-side songs, toasted marshmallows and torch-lit hide and seek.
The more time we spend there, the more we feel we begin to know this ancient land and wonder at the incredible views from Station House Hill (the shark's fin) to Pilsbury motte and bailey castle and over to the Manifold Valley.
Our trees are a mixture of mainly native deciduous including oak, green beech, yew, blackthorn, mountain ash, small leave lime, goat willow, silver birch, scots pine, downy birch, walnut, alder, field maple, dog rose, hawthorn, wild cherry and purple beech.
On my 40th birthday we built a willow "twigloo" in the rain, helped by Steve and Simeone who brought their fresh cut willow from Cumbria. The day before my 41st in bright sunshine and with earth snowy and frost-hard, we added a willow tunnel.

Thankyou to everyone who gave us trees in some form or other; our wood is beginning to grow.