down to the woods

There is nowhere that the boys love more than the woods. They thrive on the fresh air and the space to run around and investigate their surroundings. Although it has been far to chilly of late to even contemplate abandoning hats and scarves, there have been some beautifully sunny days. On one such day we went to visit a wood that we had yet to explore. Unlike our favourite wood, there was no wild garlic to be found here, and the trees retained their wintery silhouettes, but there were some fresh young leaves developing, as well as wild primroses and celandines. It is these harbingers of Spring which appear as the endless Narnian Winter draws to a close in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: “Edmund saw the ground covered in all directions with little yellow flowers – celandines.”

The boys were less interested in the celandines and more in the impressive array of sticks available to them. On the way home there was an in-depth debate concerning the relative merits of sticks versus mud. The conclusion was – naturally- that the best thing was to always have plenty of both.