Buckholt Wood, near Birdlip

A friend who lives in Devon rang me a few days ago to ask if I could find out some information about the sanatorium his father had been convalescing in after the Second World War. I had sent him an old photo of the place a while ago, as I knew that his father had been there. Quite by chance another old friend had bought the site of the sanatorium nearly ten years ago, and had a wonderful 'sustainable' new house designed and built there.

As well as the land the house was built on, R and C had bought a wonderful adjacent ancient woodland close to the Cotswold hills escarpment, the steep wooded slopes which face west down to the Severn Vale.

Their wood is very close to another ancient woodland called Buckholt Wood, near Birdlip, which I'm blipping here. I come here regularly in all seasons as it has amazing trees that have been there for more than four hundred years. 

I decided to stop off to try and catch the last of the thin sunshine, which was quickly diminishing as a new weather front was bringing scudding and thick clouds and high winds. The beech leaves were falling around me and I fear that this ma have  been my last opportunity to catch their delightful autumn colours. Once winter comes there will be a different delight of the thick mass of brown leaves and misty scenes, so all is not lost.

I drove on about a mile to R and C who weren't expecting me, but welcomed me with tea and information about the sanatorium which I will pass on to Dave in Devon. All in all a good day.