The Isle of Thorns

After the cold wet and windy weather of recent days, this morning dawned sunny, calm and mild. I took the spaniel off to the Isle of Thorns for a walk. Its not an island and its not thorny. The name is believed to date from the 16th century, or earlier, and may have referred to a safe grazing enclosure surrounded by thorns. Now its one of the slightly quieter, but very boggy, parts of the Ashdown Forest.