Tiny Dog, Big Forest

A scorcher! We go for two walks today, one early, before the heat starts to stifle us, and another later, when there's a bit of shade in the Forest, and we can keep a bit cooler. 26 degrees C, they tell me. The early walk was so that Dad could see the big notice and balloons the allotmenteers had tied to the picnic area fence saying "14th April - Happy 50th Birthday and Dad's name" . 50th Birthday balloons were tied all along the fence. Excellent!

Here are some nice pics from our afternoon walk. the big ol' stags head oak tree is not actually in Challock Forest, but close by the A251 on the way back to Faversham. It looks superbly ancient and last-legs in the slanting evening light, but it seems to go on surviving.

The beech woods one is rather fun. If you look central in the pic, half way up the track up the bank you might just be able to see me, looking very tiny against the huge beeches. The curious horn thing at the top of the slope is one of the sculptures done by Stour Valley Arts ( www.stourvalleyarts.org.uk ). It is actually fixed to the top of a 30 foot deep concrete-lined hole, which is drip fed from a dew-pond type pool. The dripping water falls past an assortment of jangly wind-chime type bits, as I understand it, and the subterranean noises are amplified by the horn thing. It is called, I think, "Score for a hole in the ground" and the artist was the banjo player from Shane MacGowan's band The Pogues (Fantastic band, says Dad)

Finally a pretty bunch of primroses, just to make you feel all spring like and Kentish. The bluebells are starting to open, but I'll save pics of them till we get a goodly typical carpet of them, when they are at their most impressive. 15th April is, actually a bit early, and we are mildly concerned that the formal Bluebell Walk Dad leads in the forest will only be left with the tail end of them. Heigh Ho. There's no accounting for nature. Last year we almost had to postpone it because they were so late.

Hope you had a good weekend

Deefs