Monday 31 October 2016

Now the proper New Forest post 1


Now that I am back home it is catch-up time again.  We had the Fleamarket at Carmarthen yesterday, but were so tired when we got back - late, as we got stuck in a huge traffic jam the moment we joined the main road into Carmarthen from the showground - that the car is still unpacked, so I need to do as much as I can of that, and just leave the really heavy boxes until my beloved finally wakes up and is ready to help me.

I am being held to ransom by the apple harvest too - talk about a bumper one, and on ALL our trees.  I have given boxes and boxes away, but there are still lots to be picked, so I think the birds will do well this year.  I have made some chutney and will make more, but it's finding the time to do it as the garden needs more autumn tidying and I have a long list of "fings to do".

I hope you will enjoy these pictures from a local walk at Ashurst which I did on two of the three days I was in So'ton staying with my friend.  It is difficult to see her so poorly and not able to bounce back as she did a year ago.  It was a lovely visit though, and as we have been friends since we were five years old, I feel like one of the family when her children and grandchildren visit.



I'm not sure if this mare is yet to foal, or whether she is just saggy from previous foalings, but I think there may be a very late foal for her.



A photo to demonstrate a) the reflective collar round this mare's neck in case she strays on the road in the night, and b) how her tail has been cut by the Agister to show which part of the Forest she is hefted to.  The ponies are caught up in the annual Drifts and foals separated for weaning/selling (though there are VERY few of them now as no real market for them), wormed, fillies being retained will be branded with their owner's mark.  They aren't wild as such as they all belong to the Commoners who live on the Forest and have grazing rights.  HERE is a note about the system.



Certainly not the deepest part of the Forest, as this was just a short stroll from the main road, but you could keep going and end up in Lymington or Brockenhurst if it took your fancy!




The trees were turning and some of the colours were stunning.


How I managed to get the only car in the area that morning in MY photo shows how ditsy I can be!!



I loved this lumpy old tree.


This is it from another angle, with better lighting.

Some more photos tomorrow.  Now I really MUST unpack the car and stew up some apples.


There are several MORE boxes and still LOTS more on the trees . . .


This is the one we have picked MOST from!

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