One of my favourite local nature reserves is a tiny hidden gem. It's not immediately apparent from the road, so you have to know it's there to know it's there, and most of the times that I've visited I've found myself alone and in perfect and peaceful solitude. It's an old orchard, with twisted, ancient, lichen-encrusted trees from which the most beautifully delicate apple blossoms sprout, in every shade of soft, blushed pink. It's abuzz with bees and other pollinators and carpeted with drifts of forget-me-nots. Behind the trees there's a meadow and then a small patch of woodland, which in the springtime is pungent with the smell of the wild garlic growing abundantly under the greening trees and it is home to a large and complex badger sett.
Come and wander along the meandering green pathways with me, mind your head on the overhanging branches. We'll walk quietly, listening to the bird song and the drone of the bees and when we're hungry we'll stop for a picnic lunch at the little bench by the pond, where we'll watch the ducks squabble over pond weed and breathe deeply the softly fragrant breeze.
Tewin Orchard, early May 2023
