Puzzlewood ~ Forest of Dean.

[lugg]

Just over the border from Herefordshire is the Forest of Dean , Gloucestershire. I visited a couple of days with Enzo and my sister. It was wet and muddy and so, between keeping myself upright and watching that Enzo did not fall down into any of the deep drops of the scowles, I did not take as many photos as usual.
I found it to be quite a magical and unique place and so I thought I would post a postcard.
I am not sure if anyone would recognise it, but it has been used as a location site for several films and TV series, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Secret Garden and Dr Who. It also may have inspired Tolkien.
I had never heard of Scowles before but they are possibly unique to this place. Anyway I guess that now Enzo is one of only a few 4 year olds that know this word, in the geological sense.

Scowles have developed over millions of years. They occur in a broken ring around the central part of the Forest of Dean and are confined to particular geological outcrops of Carboniferous limestone and sandstone. Ancient cave systems were formed underground, before iron-rich water from the coal measures of the central Forest area permeated from the surface and deposited iron ore in crevices. The caves were then uplifted, eroded and exposed as a surface of deep hollows and exposed rock. Much later, humans – certainly from the Iron Age and later in the Roman period – recognised that iron ore could be found in veins and pockets in the exposed rock faces. In some places, when the surface exposures were exhausted they followed veins of iron ore underground. The ore was then smelted locally, using locally obtained charcoal, and made into objects or traded, by way of the River Wye or ports on the River Severn and its estuary.


And,

One of the most accessible areas of scowles is at Puzzlewood near Coleford, which is open as a tourist attraction. Over a mile of pathways were laid down in the early 19th century to provide access to the woods, and provide picturesque walks. Puzzlewood, and "Dwarf's Hill" at Lydney Park which also contains scowles, are said to have been inspirations for J. R. R. Tolkien's descriptions of Middle-earth forests in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien carried out archaeological work in the area in the 1920s with Mortimer Wheeler.

Anyway armed with a map – Enzo took the lead and we followed.

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Mosses and ferns are abundant, although many of the ferns were only just starting to unfurl. The tree shapes encourage imagination.

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Lots of steps – both uphill and downhill. By the end of our explorations I really felt the 60 years age difference between Enzo and I !

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Occasionally bridges were a welcome respite and helped to avoid the climbing in and out of the scowles,

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Anyway we all enjoyed the trek through – happy, tired and very muddy at the end.

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Fortunately there is an on-site café which caters to muddy and hungry people. After … A quick look around at the animal park before heading for home.

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Ice cream in hand – back to our car,

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Anyway this video has even more.. it is long… but worth a quick skip through if you want to see more..

[bjd]

It looks like a great place for a walk with kids!

[kerouac2]

Puzzlewood was also a major location in the BBC series Merlin. Difficult not to use such a photogenic place.

[cheerypeabrain]

One of my favourite places...lovely images lugg xxx

[htmb]

Oh, is Enzo not the cutest 4 year old ever! Totally distracted me from looking at the forest! I’ll have to go back over this again!

[bixaorellana]

Drat! Htmb took the words right out of my mouth. Well, by now Enzo must know I'm his biggest fan, so .........

All I can think to say about Puzzlewood is ~ Well, isn't that something!!! It's impossible not to think magical - enchanted - elves - fairies, etc. At first I didn't realize that your first photo wasn't an illustration from a children's book.
All that mossy green -- I just love it.

It wasn't until the picture right after the one of Enzo almost at the turn of the stairs that I got a good idea of how scowles look. What a fascinating geological feature & history. I kept thinking of The Princess and the Goblin. Speaking of fiction, those cattle are the kind Gudrun dances in front of in Women in Love. I'm sure that's the first thing you thought, too!

Anyway, thanks for a beautiful and very interesting post card!

[lugg]

Thanks guys xx