Parish Holiday Day 6 -- 9-7-10

Woke up to sunshine coming through though the window – surprising because of the dire predictions of rain. Decided to take advantage and do a load of laundry which I then hung out to dry. Margaret volunteered to take it in if it should rain, if she were at home. So with hope I’d have enough clean clothes to last me through the trip, I left at the usual 10 a.m. hour for an exploration of the New Forest.

The “New” Forest, it should be noted, dates from William the Conqueror and the 11^th century! It’s all relative, I guess. . . . And the “Forest” does contain wooded areas, probably more than in William’s time, but it also has a lot of open heath. Officially a National Park, like most in England there are villages and privately-owned land within the Forest and the grass areas are used by those in the area for common grazing.

So cattle, pigs, horses, and donkeys all roam within the New Forest boundaries, grazing and happily walking along and across the roads making for low speed limits and careful driving. There are also deer, although they tend to keep to certain areas. The villages and private houses are protected by fences and cattle grids so the animals aren’t walking down the High Streets. It’s an interesting concept, but it seems to work, having been in existence for hundreds of years.

Our first stop in the New Forest was Furzey Gardens. Starting, apparently, with a small cottage that had been built in 1560, occupied well into the 20^th century before being abandoned, the new owner refurbished the cottage and began improving the grounds with gardens. It is now a training facility for the developmentally disabled who learn a variety of skills, primarily gardening but also thatching. There is a retreat facility on the site, many quirky wood and thatch structures scattered around the grounds, hidden fairy doors to keep visiting children interested in going through the gardens, and many wonderful plantings (although this probably isn’t the best season to view). We spent a delightful hour and a half walking through the garden – and occasionally just sitting and enjoying.

We went to Burley, one of the New Forest villages, for lunch and a wander -- and ice cream! New Forest ice cream is quite tasty and very available.





While looking at the various shops, I came across this basket of Jolly Gollys; apparently blackface dolls are okay if they're gollys and not gollywogs. . . .













In driving back to Sherfield English, we saw many of the sights of the New Forest, some of which seemed questionable to us but are significant in the life of the area: the naked man (basically a dead tree which formerly was used to hang witches), the Portuguese fireplace remaining from WWI, the Rufus Stone where William II, known as Rufus, was shot in 1100, and the Canadian Memorial -- the spot where Canadian soldiers preparing for D-Day worshipped.


Tonight was the parish barbecue with all the parish holiday visitors and as many of the people who've helped as could make it. It was held in the same wonderful garden as our earlier gathering for tea. A good time was had by all.

During the barbecue the St. Leonard's bell ringers began practicing. Because Elizabeth is a bell ringer, she invited us to go up to the tower to observe. We were even given a chance to ring a bell -- sort of. I held the bottom of the rope while the expert handled the sally (the colored fat part of the rope). It was fun again to see how it's done.