welsh hills again

It was winter when we came here seven years ago.  There are a lot of trees on our land and along our boundary, in the hedges, standing on corners, and I couldn't believe that in winter I did not know what they were.  I have got better now at identifying trees without their leaves so I thought I would take you a walk around the edges of our property and have a look at the trees, in their winter beauty. Let's start up behind the house where three big beech trees grow on the top of the great curve of rock beneath which the house sits, tucked out of the wind.  Welsh nouns, as in French and other languages, are either masculine or feminine.  All trees are feminine words in Welsh and the Welsh for beech is ffawydden. Beech is generally a lowland tree and there are not many around here.  These three mark the boundary between us and our neighbours at the farm.  I love the smoothness of their bark and the vividness of the new leaves in spring.  Occasion...

Doors, gates: do they shut you out or invite you in?  I can never see a beautiful door or gate without wanting to open it and find out what is on the other side but doors in themselves can be lovely things.   I was so taken with some pictures of  doors from Rachel at slow lane life   that I wandered around looking again at our doors and I thought I would share them.  Some are pretty ordinary; some much less so. Here is the front door.  Like most farmhouse front doors it is never used.  No one ever comes in through the front door but if you did and closed it behind you, you would find this. At the top is the latch, possibly made in the forge that used to belong to the farm and which is now part of the holiday cottage.  Below that is the key, a good six inches long and nearly as big as my hand, and the lock into which it fits.  They still work.  Below them is a wooden bolt.  There is another similar one upstairs and I th...