A Patch in the Forest by Elisabeth West (2001)

 

 

I bought this book years ago, but it is now out of print and second hand copies sell for 50 to 60 Euro's. The book has a few illustrations and no maps.

When Elizabeth West finished Garden in the Hills  she and Alan were preparing to leave their Hovel in the Hills because there was no way they could make a living there. Also they found that new roads and increased traffic meant they could no longer live there in peace. "We promised ourselves that one day, as soon as we were entitled to a state old-age pension, we would find another patch of land in a wild and lonely place and make another garden." In the early 90's, when they are both receiving pensions, the time has come to find a new place to live.

"Now that the time to make our plans had arrived we found that the passing years had modified our ideas. With old age ahead we didn't want our patch to be wild and lonely, nor did we reckon on coping with more than an acre of land. A place on the outskirts of a village or hamlet would be ideal - preferably on a no-through road and within a half-mile walk of a post office and bus service". After an 18 month search they buy a small house in the Forest of Dean. It has a garden with an enormous oak tree in it.

 

In 1993 they move in. The house was built in the early 1960's. Everywhere they look they find "workmanship of such incompetence that we almost begin to suspect malicious intent." So Alan does a lot of repairs. They create a kitchen and "back kitchen", remove some of the 24 doors, and rip out all the complicated water pipes and central heating, and "start again". They install an Aga in the kitchen, have an open fire in the living room and use electric heaters, when needed, in other rooms. They are allowed to gather brushwood in the forest and also buy locally dug coal.

The garden is about half an acre (on a slope). It does not get much direct sunlight, suffers from mists and frost and has bad soil (clay mixed with rubbish to level the site). Nevertheless they manage to create a beautiful garden there.  Their aim is to attract as much wildlife as possible. Part of the garden they leave "rough", part is a meadow (mown 3 or 4 times a year), there is a vegetable garden and a pond close to the house, with the rest of the garden given over to "flowers, shrubs and interesting plants." Strangely enough these include Japanese knotweed: "which we like, in spite of what the experts say." (Japanese knotweed is considered to be one of the most invasive species, which can displace many native plants).

Elizabeth describes all the vegetables they grow, stressing "this is how we do it and not suggesting how you should." They can be largely self-sufficient for most of the summer and autumn, but in winter they need the greengrocer. They grow (and dry) a lot of herbs, eat some weeds (like dandelion and chickweed), gather mushrooms and nuts.

Elizabeth and Alan clearly revel in living close to nature as becomes clear in the chapters on their observations of and encounters with birds, butterflies and other animals of the forest.

"Looking out for the birds that visit the garden is, of course, a non-stop activity in this household. We chat to them if they approach us and we mutter greetings if they are about their business in the hedge. If they are flying across the sky or soaring overhead we watch in silent admiration. This looking-out-for-the-birds activity continues even when the weather keeps us indoors, which means we spend a lot of time gazing from the windows."

"Our concern that butterflies should have food and appropiate facilities to carry out their complicated life cycles means that flowers are left to bloom for as long as they are useful and that plenty of rough grass, nettles and bramble thickets are available. We have noticed that chives are usually the earliest vegetable plants to bloom and they are very attractive to bees and butterlies. If we want to have plenty of chive leaves to eat we should really trim off the flower stalks, but we don't. The only answer is to have more chives."

Animals in the forest around them include deer, badgers, adders and squirrels. Elizabeth writes of the plans to introduce pine martens (a natural enemy to the grey squirrel) to the Forest, fearing it will mean a diminishing bird population (note: in 2019 18 pine martens were released in the Forest of Dean). Bats, frogs, toads and hedgehogs visit their garden.

"This invitation to our garden does not extend to that most ubiquitous Forest of Dean animal, the wandering sheep. " (...) "The men who own these sheep belong to a Commoner's Association through which they defend their rights to run sheep in the forest." Attempts to regulate grazing by sheep are not very successful (this still seems to be an issue today).

Elizabeth and Alan don't get many visitors, nor do they go away often. "Having spent most of our working lives engaged in various forms of humble employment (in between periods of unemployment) the need to earn a living had always occupied a lot of our time, thoughts and energies. But we no longer have to work for money, and the sense of freedom in exhilarating." They enjoy their own company, spending time in the garden, listening to music and reading. Elizabeth has become a fan of the bands and choirs in the Forest. And of course they often go for walks.

This book is a must for everyone who has enjoyed Hovel in the Hills and Garden in the Hills. Here's hoping Logastan Press will reprint!