These are a few of my favourite things....

"When the dog barks,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favourite things
And then I don't feel so bad"......

......Duncliffe, watercolours and Jane Lewis!

Having worked for 17 years in my first job as an architect I was given this painting when I left to start my maternity leave. My colleagues had this commissioned especially for me by local watercolour artist Jane Lewis. Knowing me very well they chose my very favourite place in the whole world....Duncliffe Hill. When I was very tiny my nan and grandad lived in a house at the foot of the hill and we spent many happy hours on the hill, picking bluebells and blackberries and climbing on the haystacks. Nan and grandad's house was later converted into a restaurant called The Wayfarers where LG proposed to me 34 years ago in what was once my Nan's front room!!! Such happy memories. I loved my nan and still miss her so much even though she has been gone for many years. In a lifetime there are just a handful of people who influence the very person you become. I owe her so much!

Duncliffe Hill, just west of Shaftesbury, is in the heart of the Blackmore Vale. It is a large ancient woodland site which can be spotted from miles around. It is a designated site of nature conservation interest, it has a rich mix of woodland species, including what are reported to be the oldest living things in Dorset - a scattering of coppice stools of small-leaved limes. Once an oak, ash and hazel woodland, the site was traditionally coppiced but was felled and replanted in the fifties and sixties with a mix of Norway spruce, oak, larch and beech. The wood is a reservoir of wildlife with a rich butterfly mix including silver-washed fritillary and white admiral. Other wildlife includes tawny owls, various bat species and birds such as buzzards, woodpeckers and tree-creepers. Am so fortunate to live only a few minutes drive away....one day perhaps I'll move so I can see it every day from my window!