Following on from the Flock Project, which made it into Guinness World Records, Eden Arts have a Woollen Woods project. Originally at Acorn Bank (National Trust), it is currently at Sizergh Castle (NT). It was a warm and sunny day in June, when hubby and I went to have a look.
We began with lunch of soup and a roll with a pot of tea from the tea shop. It was pleasant sitting at a table on the verandah, porch, decking or whatever description you prefer for the seating outside.
Once we had shown our membership cards, we went to the bird-feeding area to see the wild birds and the wooden wildlife, including the owl, which appears as my gravatar.
Gravatar owl in summer
The foliage surrounding it is much greener at this time of year than on our earlier visit. As well as many of the birds illustrated on a display panel, we saw and heard a cock pheasant.
Next we proceeded past the lake (with its coot) to the knoll, which has been yarn-bombed with woollen wildlife, leaves, toadstools, bunting and a kite tangled in a tree. Many of the woollen creatures adorning the trees were birds.
My favourite owl in the Woollen Woods
Owls, blue tits, a parrot and a parakeet as well as a bird of prey with quilted wings and other garden birds were all visible and did not fly away as we approached! We explored the knoll in both directions and spotted different artefacts from our new viewpoints.
Exploring the grounds we found Percy, who is definitely a scarecrow, rather than a perchcrow. He lives in the kitchen garden, where the neat rows of vegetables were brightened by a patch of penstemon in flower.
Percy
We also located the second-hand bookshop and made some purchases. One was a particularly lucky find for me as a writer. (I have mentioned before that I only studied English to O-level and did not obtain particularly good grades. As a result I do not know as much about poetic form as Mum, who took her Higher in English (long before A-levels). Thus a Penguin book entitled “How to be well-versed in poetry” was a “must have” for me.)
Having put our books in the boot (trunk) of the car, we continued to explore the grounds and were fascinated by the teamwork of a pair of coot building a nest in the middle of the lake behind the castle. There was also a family of mallards.
Teamwork
Sizergh Castle is not far from Kendal and the Woollen Woods will be there until 1st September 2014.
Sue's Trifles 