A place to which I will return
A recent physio session came to the conclusion that I couldn't hike until the beginning of this month at the earliest. While my knee has been recovering, I have been mentally struggling between a desire to travel (Scotland is calling) and appreciating local, more accessible, beauty. This recent discovery reaffirmed that there isn't a battle between these things, they are not diametrically opposed. The Cairngorms will wait for me.
The recent discovery of this place close to home has occupied my mind ever since I first stepped foot in its enchanting woodlands. I loved it so much, I went to visit two days in a row. It came about as I went to test a medium format film camera, a Bronica SQ-ai. While the camera had a fault (and I had to return it), the trip out and finding this wilderness area was worth every second. I'll include some images as I write.
The variety found in this nature reserve is beautiful: ancient broadleaved woodland, chalk hills with beech trees, hazel coppices, wildflower meadows. Each space offers a different experience as one makes their way along a walk. It feels like a place where endless exploration can happen - the order and direction in which you encounter things is never the same.
The light on that first trip was glorious. Clouds were breaking in the afternoon after a day of heavy rain. The beech leaves were glowing on the backlit south hill and the birch trees swayed gently in a calming breeze. The woodlands and meadows had a sense of being wrapped in light. I walked, both mesmerised and longingly searching for the intersect of open space and dense trees. I find these spaces an appealing place to make images of the light as it filters through the threshold of the woodland edge.
This first set of images, made over the course of two days, inspires me to revisit. I want to see how the seasons affect its spaces; how beech forests sound in the rain; how deer graze through the coppice woods. Each visit presents a series of new encounters. It's funny how a simple walk in nature can manifest such inspiration. This woodland space is only half an hour from my parent's house, and so I believe this will be a place I return to consistently over the years to come. Don't get me wrong - I still yearn for the Highlands, but it can wait for the moment.
P.S. Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on a working medium format camera in the near future. TBC.
