Poulton Woods.

Despite the decidedly wintery weather, we did venture out yesterday; suitably togged up!

 Rye and me met up with some friends at Poulton Woods near Ashford, and had a thoroughly lovely time.  The bluebells were beautiful too!

 Poulton wood is quite a small, managed wood, but oh it feels very magical indeed and there were many treasures to find.

 The folk who own the wood, apparently do a lot of wood carving too, and around the woods were various carvings, seats, tables, all thoroughly explored by the children.

 How fab is this boar!

 The children were very excited to find a tyre swing.

 I dubbed this the Green man tree, the children were fascinated and I showed them how to listen for the tree's heartbeat, lol they were too excited tho to listen properly.

 And this fantastic tree is an ancient cherry tree, full of bumps and lumps and interesting shapes.  Rye announced these bumps were the tree's noses.

 A wishing tree.  The kids loved it, I admit to be being slightly appalled, as really offerings should be biodegradable and those ribbons most definitely are not... I admit tho, it did look pretty with the ribbons fluttering in the wind.  We suggested next time we visit that we bring the tree an offering and make it some natural gifts.

 Look!  a fox lol.

 Poulton Woods also is home to wood works and I believe people with learning disabilities work the wood here, there's also lovely places to sit after a walk round the woods to enjoy a cream tea.  We were to late out of the woods for one tho.

 Loved this owl at the entrance!

 Look at the roundhouse!  Fanastic!

Outside the wood there was  grassy area for picnics and these fabulous willow structures!  It was raining hard at this point and after 2 hours of walking around the woods the kids had enough...... well until they saw the willow structures, then we had trouble dragging them away.   There's also a willow maze, which once grown properly will look fantastic.

I foresee many a trip back to Poulton Woods!