Saturday 21 July 2012

An Iron Age Hill Fort and a Touch of Lord of the Rings

We went away for a few days last week. We had mixed weather so we tried to make the most of the sunny days.

One day we made a visit to Croft Castle near Leominster. As Spencer was with us, we chose to take the walk up to the Iron Age hill fort at Croft Ambrey. It was a lovely walk through different landscapes.......fields with cows and their calves, woodland and rough grassland with hundreds of foxgloves.




I've never seen foxgloves growing wild in these numbers before....




There were fantastic 360 degree views from the hill fort....





My favourite part, however, was at the beginning of the walk. The path took us through a field with huge ancient trees.....


We believed these old trees were Holm Oaks like the 600 year old tree we had seen at Westbury Court Gardens......


But apparently they are 400 year old Spanish Chestnut Trees.

Some of these giant trees were still alive......


........and some were long dead........




 They were magnificent......


Reaching up into the sky with their huge arm-like branches....



They reminded me of 'Treebeard' and the 'Ents' from the Lord of the Rings book and film, The Two Towers. The tree creatures that help fight Saruman.


We really enjoyed our visit and we will return one day to visit the castle itself and the gardens.

We're off to do a car boot sale tomorrow......it will be Spencer's first one......he's hoping we will find him a nice Sunday Hat to wear!

See you tomorrow.

Maggie xx

7 comments:

  1. Looks like a beautiful day. What a gorgeous blue sky. Love the foxgloves! And the trees are so interesting. What a lovely day you had!

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  2. Such lovely weather! And those trees look so fantastic - I do love an old tree or two. Thank you for posting these fab photos, Maggie!

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  3. That looks like a lovely little trip! I love the English views!
    I hope Spencer finds a good hat and is treated to an ice cream cone!

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  4. Oh, Maggie, I love it when you take me with you on your trips out and about! Those trees are gorgeous. It reminds me of some trees in a Walt Disney movie that I can't recall right now where the trees come alive and dance. It was sort of creepy really as a child when I saw it. But I'm not scared now and I love trees anyway but you've got some real humdingers where you live!
    Spencer is really quite the gentleman now that he's attended Puppy "U"! Chris looked like he was behaving also! LOL! I hope you found a new hat for Spencer. You might have to send me your address so I can "contribute" to his collection as my Nitty and Annie refuse to wear them.

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  5. What a wonderful walk, I thoroughly enjoyed it via the photographs. Those ancient trees are magnificent, quite amazing to think the things they have lived through...even just the fashion changes they have witnessed!! Those spectacular views have reminded me that it is far too long since I visited that part of the country. Enjoy your car boot sale.

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  6. What beautiful photos, I loved the Ents in LOTR!

    Helenxx

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  7. I love old trees. Imagine the stories they could tell us of what they have witnessed over the centuries. Lovely photos! Thanks for taking us along.

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