A Golden Forest, An Ancient Church and Charcoal Burning

The great beech trees of Epping Forest are beautiful at any time of year, but when I visited here in August I made a promise to myself that I'd come back to see their autumn colours.  I think mature beech trees are the trees of autumn; their leaves turn from green to gold to copper before forming a magic copper carpet on the ground.  As Epping Forest is reported to contain over 80% of all the UK's ancient beech trees, it has to be the best place to come and see this wonderful sight.

But when would be right time to make this visit? Looking at the trees where I am I've noticed that many of the leaves are still green - and this ties in with reports on the news that autumn is about two-three weeks later this year. So should I leave my forest visit until early November?

Well, I decided to go now - because with reports of gales arriving over the next couple of days, there's a good chance I could go all the way there and find only bare branches! But a visit this week did mean that instead of finding copper, I found a blend of green, copper and gold. In fact, gold was the true colour of the forest that day, because a lovely sun lit up all the leaves. So, although it was a different sight to the one I'd planned - it wasn't a disappointment at all. And I was still able to wander through the carpet of copper...

After I visited the forest, I called in at nearby Greensted Church. Greensted Church is reported to be the oldest wooden church in the world and the oldest wooden building still standing in Europe, so this fascinates me because of my love of wood. As we're completing our own, traditional, timber-frame barn at home, it's inspiring to see an ancient example of a wooden building...

Greensted Church

The first Saxon settlers here worshipped their gods in groves in the forest. But after they converted to Christianity, the first church was built on this site in the late sixth or early seventh century. Dendrochronological analysis of the timber walls indicates that the church standing today was constructed around 1060-1063 AD.  Changes have been made to the church over the centuries to preserve it, for example, around 1500, the thatched roof was replaced with tiles and the timber tower, clad in Essex weatherboarding, was probably built in the 1600s. Windows have been added, too, as the Saxon nave would have been windowless with the church lit by lamps...

Further restoration was undertaken in the Victorian era and this included shortening the base of the ancient timbers...

A Crusader's grave lies just outside the church.  It's possible that the Crusader was something of a local hero, because he was placed against the south wall, and his coffin lid was made of stone (not a local material.)

Back at home...

There are some signs of autumn in our trees (I had to include this pic to show off our extra long sheep!!)

We'll be using wood from our trees for charcoal burning - our new project.  As we're surrounded by hornbeam and sweet chestnut, this is the wood we'll use to burn...

Charcoal Burners

More on this when we get going!

Meanwhile a huge oak has come crashing down in a nearby meadow.  As you can see, the crown appeared to be very healthy (the whole tree appeared very healthy from the outside), but the trunk was rotten inside...

The crown

Fortunately, it didn't do any damage. It'll be moved, because the meadow is used, but I always find it fascinating when fallen, dying trees are left because they'll become a new home for lots of different insects.

Last of all, we've added a new spirit to our collection of carvings, gargoyles and grotesques. We recently bought this Green Man i.e. this isn't one we've made, and he makes us smile because his fierce expression reminds of someone we know!

So I'm waiting, now, for these gales. The '87 hurricane had a huge impact on our nearby wood - and there are still plenty of fallen trees lying around from that time. I wonder if these coming gales will change the local landscape dramatically, too?