Red House sunrise

Apparently I've come to the attention of the local council. They asked if I would let them use some of my heathland landscapes in some publicity about the nature reserve. I'm rather chuffed by that.

There was a blanket of thick mist everywhere this morning but as the spaniel and I came up the valley to the top of the ridge on Red House Common the sun broke through. The commons were originally known as 'North Common'. Apparently new names had to be invented for the seven different compartments in the 1980s when there were lots of heathland fires and more precise location names were needed so that the fire service could be directed to the right places (I would have thought clouds of acrid black smoke might have given the game away....). For some slightly bizarre reason they chose to name several of them after the house nearest to the car park ignoring more obvious landmarks. So, although this common has a huge smock mil right in the middle its now known as Red House Common after a house of the same name which isn't even on the common.

Might start a campaign for the re-introduction of the title 'North Common', especially now that its all fenced. Now, what shall I call my campaign....?