We Think There Might Be Fairies Here …

beech wood sennowe 1

Have you been to Sennowe Park ?  Sarah Wise and Abbie Panks have been for a stomp about.  The sheep have gone off for a rest now after nibbling all that grass down but you know what ?  This place has a very magical feel to it.

walk and talk

We’ve had a good look round.

house from big oak

It’s got a house up on a hill and some very old trees

sarah and abbie chatting under the oak

And after careful consideration

First meeting of Fairies Anonymous

And a long chat, we think this tree would be just great for telling stories under.

big sennowe oak

It’s a pretty big oak.

welcome under the big oak

Here’s Sarah Wise demonstrating the scale of it.  Experts say it’s maybe 350 years old.  But you know what ?  There’s another even more amazing tree just nearby.

 

????????????????????????????????????

We call this the ‘Fairy Beech Tree’.  And the unusual thing about it is that it looks like a group of trees, or a ‘grove’, which was often just the sort of place associated with fairies and magical happenings in ancient days.  But if you have a closer look, you will find …

veil of leaves outside fairy beech

That behind the veil of beautiful shiny new green leaves, there are a circle of ‘trunks’.

daughters of the fairy beech

Look a bit closer and you can see that these are all slightly growing outwards.

inside the layered beech

And in fact are all the ‘daughters’ of one very ancient old beech, now mainly rotten but still alive, growing right in the middle.  The atmosphere is very mysterious and peaceful.  This tree is very old indeed for a beech trees but it’s not going to die, it’s just moving outwards.  Some call these ‘phoenix’ trees.

fairy beech 3

Branches from the old trunk have bowed down and touched the ground, and where they do that they have taken root, to produce what look like ‘new trees’.  Lots of beetles that can only eat decaying old wood need these sorts of trees to survive.  But we think this is probably the sort of tree elves and fairies like too.  What do you think ?  It seems to us a good place for something like Fairy Training.

fairy beech 7

Have you ever seen branches becoming trees like this before ? It’s called ‘layering’ by people who study trees but we call it magical.  Very Lords-of-the-Rings-ish.

fairy beech 8

fairy beech 9

One day the old trunk in the middle will rot away but not yet, and we must take good care not to damage it.  All sorts of things could be living in here.

We also found a lot of other stuff at Sennowe Park that we think mean it would be a  great place for the Fairy Fair.  It’s got some really nice woods up on the slopes.

beech woods sennowe 2

And lots of room for tents and Workshops, Craft Stalls, Maypole Dancing, Cafes and all that other good Fair stuff.

general view towards fair site

In fact most of the Fair like the Stage and Face Painting and Animal Hospital and Fairy Flower Making,  the Performance Tent (and the Good Elf Pub) will fit in right here !

????????????????????????????????????

boathouse and lake

Plus there’s a Lake.  And we think these woody bits would be a good area for making Secret Dens

fairy houses and dens site 1

And Fairy Houses.

beech in woods with moss

horse chestnut blooms

There are also lots of other lovely trees like this blossoming Horse Chestnut which later in the summer will make conkers.  So we look forward to seeing you there, at the Fairy Fair !

Sarah and abbie waving

(It you’re not sure how to get there, have a look at Getting to Sennowe Park)

 

Comments are closed.