Well seasoned and not well seasoned

Last week the old project manager and I thought we might go and have a look at a really remarkable piece of woodland about four miles east of Fakenham, just off the main road that goes to Cromer. It is called Thursford Wood.

It is remarkable because it contains some of the oldest trees, especially oak trees in Norfolk.

As a location it is also remarkably difficult to find- we passed the entrance a couple of times before we took a chance and slotted in to a rather muddy and small parking area. The guide leaflet was` not kidding when it said the area was on a fast road and had an undistinguished entrance. That’s the way – talk it up!

Nevertheless it turned out to be a delightful spot with some amazing trees. Many of the oak trees were clearly very old – possibly around 500 years. Quite a lot had burls on them. I am never quite sure what causes these somewhat unsightly growths but they are very prevalent in that area.

Another thing we noticed was that when trees fell down they had been left and other much younger trees had grown up in, around and sometimes through them. It was fascinating to see the contorted trunks and overlapping root systems.

Also there seemed to be lots of hollow trunks where other plants were growing in through them.

We thought it would be good, from a photography point of view to pay a visit while the morning mist lasted – but predominantly it didn’t – clanger number one!

Later reading of the brief guide to the area I noticed that the recommended time for a visit seemed to be Spring or early summer when wild flowers would be out. Ah well we enjoyed the walk – hope you like the photographs.