Our small Devon wood - first impressions

Cliche alert - Dream come true


The area is great, the house is just what we wanted, the garden has loads of potential but well-stocked, there's a river across the road, tawny owls hoot at night, bats and moths abound in the evenings and the dark sky provides starry nights when clear. Exmoor is up the road and we are about an hour from the North Devon Coast. A 5 minute walk down the road and we're in Bampton where we have everything we need - doctor, chemist, chippy, bakers, greengrocer, mini-supermarket, cash machine, post office, pubs and restaurants. People are friendly and there are loads of local things going on. Tivvy is 15 minutes away if we really need to go to a supermarket.

It was the wood wot clinched it though!

The garden gate leading to the wood beyond (May 2019)

Behind the garage at the side of the house are some steps. These lead to an old gate and beyond is the wood that came with the property. The wood is a modest size of about 1.5 acres which I think is plenty big enough for one old boy and his dogs to look after.

Beyond the gate is a straight inclining path that rises east the length of the wood and is bordered by a hedge, the other side of which is a ditch on my neighbour's land. The hedge has not been managed for many, many years  so has gaps as well as some mature trees and previously layed hedging which has now grown out. These are mainly ash with lots of hazel. There's a little job for the winter. Along part of this stretch are some spruce and larch 20-30ft tall providing a litlle bit more variety in anotherwise broadleaved wood. 

At the top end is an old stone wall that runs south and rises to eventually meet the old limestone quarry face marking a clear boundary. The quarry face is 20-25ft at its highest. The whole of the boundary to the quarry face is lined with mature beech trees. Their roots have dislodged parts of the stone wall and at the top of the quarry the roots can be seen where they have grown into the limestone rock face and dislodged chunks of stone. One of my tasks is to reinstate the wall so as to ensure a good solid boundary and return the wood to it's former state. The original stones are still present. That work should also prevent the dogs from straying beyond recall, as Jarvy will do when his nose is in gear and his gander is up. In this corner I set up Base Camp 2 (see pic below).

Base Camp 2 at the north-east corner of the wood. This was taken after some hedge laying was done in November 2019. Beyond the tarp shelter can be seen the large fallen beech limb which has provided some lovely spalted timber for carving. December 2019.

To the south, my wood is continuous with my neighbours', there being no artificial or natural boundary. This is also sloping, quite steeply in parts, and comprises ground cover of wild garlic and dog's mercury but thankfully hardly any bramble. There are saplings of beech, ash, the ubiquitous hazel and oak which also make up the mature trees. These are not crowded so plenty of light falls. We hadn't had the wood long before Jarvy picked up the scent of pheasant and was off. Running after him we saw he was at the top of the quarry face and clearly aware of the anxiety in our voices took the quickest and shortest route back. Fortunately that was not over the vertical edge but a steep slope covered in beech leaves which he surfed down, not without some discomfort due to the hidden rocks. So, there's another job - Jarvy-proofing the whole of the south end of the wood. Shouldn't take long...

The old quarry face at the eastern edge of the wood. Jarvy surfed down there. Luckily he went down the leafy slope just to the left of that holly bush. Silly boy. (Autumn 2019)

The boundary leading up and on towards the quarry face. These old beech trees  have done for much of the stone wall on my side and I'll be reinstating over the winter months. (Autumn 2019)

In this brief description of the wood there remains the western edge. This runs from above the bottom garage just off the main road to the south along and across the top of the garden above the house where it joins the track previously described and the boundary hedge.

This part of the wood is quite interesting as it has two concrete block water tanks that were fed by a spring high above and provided water for the cottages before they were combined into one. Apparently these are common in the area and we have seen other examples. At present they don't function but we will see what we can do with them having located the spring and various bits of pipework.

There is a nice flat area (which became Base Camp 1) by the tanks of about 25 square metres (see pic above). It has a lovely old beech tree providing shade and overlooks the garden below (not that  you can see much of it through the trees) and further afield across the river valley. It's just above roof top level. From here a track curves up to the old quarry one way and down the other way curves back to the track leading to the gate.

Base Camp 1 and the water tanks. (Autumn 2019)

This track would have been used to bring the stone back down from the quarry which is why it is gently curved so as to take the steepness out. It has a bank to the house side (west) and on the other side is bordered by the steep rise of the wooded hill. That side is mostly covered in bramble at ground level and the range of mature trees found elsewhere are - hazel, ash, oak and beech.

The 'chicken shed'. (Summer 2019)

That's nearly it, except for what we call the 'chicken shed'; a ruinous single walled, block built and corrugated tin-covered building about 20ft long and 6 ft wide. This is situated towards the north part of the wood and faces west. We'll have plans for that once it's cleared out and the fallen trees removed.

That should set the scene. More posts will recount the work undertaken to improve the woods, including some hedge laying with Merry, rebuilding stone walls, clearing brambles and planting spring bulbs. Oh, and most important of all, Jarvy-proofing access to the top of the quarry and the woods to the south beyond Base Camp 1.