Oak King and Ash Queen

I went for a walk to see if I could find a badger sett that the Trust had told me about. I did - eventually. In fact, I found two. But I also found two immensely old trees.

The one on the front page is an ash, but the first one I came to was this oak.

He has lost much of his crown. I think he is a veteran for sure. I cannot begin to work out the circumference of the trunk at 1.5m but it must have been more than four. Maybe five,

The ash was about as big - but the trunk had split and only half was still living. I walked inside the two halves of the trunk and sat there.

Of course, the Azoth mandala. And... an offering. Peanuts and some tangerine. Well...

On this walk I also found a cottage. The remains of a cottage.

By the walls was a mass of snowdrops under the stalks of last year's nettles.

And a well.

You can see the brick lining and down there, down deep, water.

A walk into the past.