In a beechwood

Nimue Brown

Sep 3

(Nimue)

I had forgotten the particular quality of light through beech leaves and the feel of last year's beech mast under my boots. I had forgotten how coppery the ground is as last year's leaves carpet the soil. Beech tree roots are marvelous, complex things especially on uneven ground.

These are without a doubt the kinds of trees I love most. My part of the world is dominated by beech woods. However, the beeches are mostly on the hilltops and my scope to get to them has been greatly reduced during the recent years of considerable illness. I've been blessed in recent years with a good friend who has taken me out into the woods and onto the hills about once a month, and that kept me going when I had otherwise lost my connection to the landscape, but I had lost so much.

Being able to get out on the land nourishes my soul. This is tricky though, because I'm so limited now about how far I can get on foot. While I'm considerably more well than I used to be, I can only walk a couple of miles on the flat, and that makes a great many places I could once walk to entirely inaccessible to me without a car. Public transport is of no use for this. I'm not a fan of cars, and painfully aware of the environmental impact. At the same time, I wouldn't want to deny anyone else access to the landscape on the basis of limited mobility.

My hope is that I can rebuild my health and strength and be better able to once again walk out from my own front door and go significant distances. I have a lot of work to do rebuilding strength and stamina, it's going to take a while.

In the meantime, I am blessed with the practical support that means I can get into the trees more often. This is a huge privilege. So many people are denied access to the landscape through poverty - poverty of time and of resources. Too many people do not have green spaces near to where they live. Many people are ill and disabled in ways that sorely limit their capacity to get outside.

It was wonderful to be amongst beech trees again in a wood I had not visited for more than a year. Being cut off from my local landscape so much of the time has felt like losing pieces of myself. Reconnecting is a powerful process.