The body loves a threshold

The first warm breeze and sunshine for what feels like a long time. The body loves thresholds, and I sat and absorbed it in Minstead churchyard today. Back against the wall and drenched in sunlight, with the warm breeze on my face. I closed my eyes and listened to the calling goshawk in the distance, but the small and mighty wren out-sang the mighty raptor as he sat on a gravestone and sang with all his might. This added to my delightful moment of being in the "now", as the wren is my favourite bird with its joyous song.

A murmuration of starlings flew over ancient oaks and gently dancing catkins of the hazel, and a red admiral butterfly fluttered amongst the flowering crocuses and daffodils.

I love to come and sit here when I get the chance. I sense the ancient sacredness in the land where folk come to honour their loved ones. The magic of gypsies and fairies, and the "etched belongings" left by folk in bygone times. I love the openness of the skies across the meadows, and the secrets and healing the wildflowers hold as they stretch and awaken from the ground. I am sure Arthur Conan Doyle approves of his final resting place.

Walking the pretty, quiet lanes of Minstead, the ancient oak trees lining the hedgerows tell you their stories in their gnarly branches and hollows, whereas the ancient holly is more stoic in its bobbled bark and prickly, stout appearance.

Chocolate-box cottages with neat thatch and smallholding smells, with knee-high mud, express the polarity of Minstead — but still that energy holds: ancient, sacred, community-embracing.

And of course, no walk in Minstead is complete without coming across the donkeys.

Come and join me on this walk on the 7th March https://www.newforestnatureandnurture.com/event-details/minstead-circular-walk-1