In this months Countryman Magazine there is an article with  the title 'The Magic Wood' where a lady describes buying a property with some land attached which she was not particularly interested in as she particularly wanted the house on the land.

It was December and she did notice that the land had a few scruffy trees on it surrounded by brambles and piles of fallen wood, but as her main concern was organising her new accommodation she gave little thought to the land. That was until her attention was drawn to a show of daffodils in the wood which lifted her spirits somewhat.

What she gradually became aware of was that  as the year progressed her interest and time became more and more focussed on the wood, for that is what she called it now.

The waste land was anything but. The wild flowers,  animals and insects, including some rare butterflies, became first, almost as important as the house in giving her pleasure and then, accepting that she had to have somewhere to live, of prime importance.

She ends her article:  "Never look at wasteland with trees on it as just that...it is very probably a magic wood....I'm so glad I bought mine." Nuff said.

– A?dreamer (name and address supplied).