Lickpot Hill

Friday afternoon was bright and beautiful, and my walk took me down to the bottom of the valley below our house, via the village as there is no route across the fields, then up the hillside on a footpath across fields and grazing land. This took me to a shady lane along the hilltop which led to the junction with Lickpot Hill, the very narrow lane which runs diagonally up the side of the valley and punctuates our back door view. I rarely walk on this lane, despite the lovely views, as it's very narrow, has few passing places, and the long stretches between high banks barely allow space for a car to pass a pedestrian safely. On Friday I took a chance and walked briskly down the middle of the road. Two vehicles passed me, but on each occasion I heard them in time to reach a safe place and wait for them to pass. 

The main photo is taken from about halfway down the hill, and looks across to our road and the fields below it. I think I was standing roughly outside the garden of the little wooden house which is so often a focal point in my photos of views from home. We live in the low, white house closest to my viewpoint; the rooves of our neighbours' houses across the road are visible above the trees. When I zoom in I can see the greenhouses and the balcony area outside my upstairs work space, where I grow tomatoes and herbs. In the garden and orchard, only the larger trees can really be distinguished. The silver-green willow thicket in the centre of the photo and the tall poplar a little further to the right mark the bottom corners of the orchard. I like to see it all from up here, stretched out between the adjoining fields, but it also reminds me what a responsibility it is to tend this little piece of the earth and how much more we need to do to care for it better.