Little Woods

Living close to the New Forest, it’s easy to take a ramble through woodland areas and if you’re lucky you might catch glimpse of deer, donkey, ponies, cattle and in some areas even pigs.

But it is for a different reason altogether that I feel an affinity with woodland areas.

Years ago, as a kid, the local playground for myself and friends who lived nearby, were dubbed the ‘little woods.’

Only a few hundred yards from home, it was our regular play venue. At that time we felt quite safe in our young years, and our parents had few, if any, fears for our safety.

We climbed trees, sometimes fell out of them, built impromptu swings, had stepping stones over a shallow stream and at the right time of the year would look out for tiddlers in the stream, or tadpoles.

We knew nothing of computers or smartphones which had still to be invented. We did have board games, but for our generation playtime was spent outdoors as much as we could.

The main restriction was that we had to be home by teatime or for any other meal.

So just maybe, I am reminiscing to those carefree childhood days, whenever I venture to the woodlands around the National Park which is the New Forest.

We had our ‘little woods’ and indeed the nearby ‘big woods’ but it was always the former which was our regular.