Where we live, in Thanet, Kent, there are few trees as we live on the coast. The North Sea meets the English Channel here and the wind can be quite chilly until July – in my garden, which faces north-ish but has the sun overhead for most of the summer, it is often too chilly to sit outside with no sleeves. I think this is why there are few trees.

If you were to come into my back garden, you would say: ‘What do you mean, few trees? I can see maybe 10 trees along the back fence and further!’ and, I agree, there are trees along the back fence and, if I look out the front window I can see another tree or two,

But, there are few woodlands and no forests here. If I want to see woodland I would have to get in the car and drive for a while. I have been wanting to walk in a forest with Lola, the dog, seeing the birds and watching the undergrowth for little mammals scurrying about, for ages. You know, though, if you’ve read my posts, I no longer enjoy travelling and hate leaving home. So – what to do?

Well, I gave in to Julian’s desire to go to pastures new to paint, and we booked a holiday at Center Parcs, Longleat. For those of you in foreign countries, Center Parcs is a group of holiday villages in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, England and Ireland (and maybe more?). We’ve been to several over the years with various groups and twice on our own.

Longleat is in the west of England and the Center Parcs village was built in the forest of Longleat in the 1990’s. There are so many trees! Most of them are tall and straight and growing only a few feet from another tree in all directions. Among all these trees are ‘lodges’, small one storey dwellings with a sitting-dining area, a very well-equipped kitchen, a good size bathroom and several bedrooms.

Our lodge – Fir 718 – is one of maybe 15, that also accommodates dogs. It has two bedrooms and there’s a separate loo just off the enclosed front porch as well as a boiler/utility room. Outside of a glass wall is a patio and barbecue area with table and chairs – and trees, lots of trees!

Somewhere, not far from here, are some giant redwood trees. I may have seen them but am not sure what a giant redwood tree looks like!

I haven’t taken Lola for long walks through the forest though we have been here for over 5 days, for a very good reason. It’s not the rain or the cold, it’s not laziness or even the pain in my back.

Last Monday we arrived after a 3 hour journey. Because we were a little early, (the gates open at 4pm for customers to drive to their lodge and empty out their car before taking their car back to the parking lot for the duration of their stay.) We parked, got out and took Lola out of her travel carrier, gave her some water, and then started to walk towards the Plaza where there are shops and restaurants as well as the wonderful indoor swimming pool area. As I walked across a small area of earth between two parking lanes, I tripped on the smallest bit of tree stump you can imagine and found myself on my face in the dust!

Falling over in public is always embarrassing, even for an old lady, but worse than falling over is the process of getting up, particularly if one has, as I have, two replaced knees. I had the op on both knees around 14 years ago, because all the cartilage in my knees had worn away and they were causing much pain,. Despite my thankfulness at the lack of pain, I was very sad to realise that I could no longer kneel. Old and rather overweight people find it difficult to get up from the ground, particularly if they cannot turn onto their knees. I am old and somewhat overweight. When I fall (not often, thank goodness!) I need a strategy to get up. The strategy most of the time is to get someone strong to help me. In the case of last Monday’s fall, I had Julian, but he has just worked hard to lose weight and now weighs about the same as I do – and is not able to lift me. As I sat on the ground, I spotted a large younger man passing by. He saw me and came over with an offer to help. In just a moment, I was once again on my feet, thanking the kind young man profusely.

So, you can understand my lack of long forest walks.

Julian went back to the car park today because we forgot to pick up Lola’s little water bowl after I fell on Monday – and it was still there, just waiting to be reunited with the other bowls and Lola.