As the leaves turn

Voltaire the Vizsla in the Autumn

There is a moment in Summer where you catch a glimpse of Autumn. It might be a falling leaf tinged with brown, it could be the smell of woodsmoke as people start lighting their wood burners for the first time as the evenings draw in and there’s a nip in air. In Voltaire’s Wood we have been noticing the signs earlier than usual, as heatwave after heatwave tricks the usual order of things in our corner of the countryside.

The deep greens of the woodland canopy are first to show signs, dropping seeds and leaves from above. Bracken starts to bronze, grasses bleach to straw and the first dry leaves gather beneath the oak and ash. Along the paths, seeds catch hold of clothes and dog fur, while blackberries, rosehips and other small fruits begin to ripen in the hedges.

This is a particularly good time to go wild camping.

At Oak, Ash & Thorn, camping is deliberately simple. You sleep in a clearing amongst the trees, cook over a fire, wash outside and wander along woodland paths to the compost loo. There are no neat rows of pitches or manicured lawns. The wood is very much in charge.

Stay still for long enough and you begin to blend in too.

Voltaire, our Hungarian Vizsla, and his family are masters of it, their russet coats almost disappearing amongst the bracken, dry grasses and fallen leaves as the woodland shifts from green towards gold and brown.

The year is moving on, whether we’re ready or not.

And there are few better places to notice it than from a tent pitched quietly beneath the trees.