Twixt Oxlands and Shortlands Dale

The short walk from Foxcovert Farm, passing the aboreal Ruby, becomes a mini adventure taking me to a quiet, secluded place where ancient peoples had lived.

( Reading about David Hockney, years later, I was interested to find out he regularly worked here - Foxcovert Farm - in the summer, after cycling over 50 miles from Bradford. Also that as a child, he like me was frustrated at not being allowed to go to Art School as a 12 year old. I had been offered a free scholarship but like David had to remain in main stream education. We must have walked the same paths)

At a place where an unknown mini Dale joins the path a pair of buzzards flew on lazy wings, looking as if they were attached to each other by a hidden line. They looked down on braces of pheasant as a deer appeared twice. In the distance, Oxlands plantation looked ethereal, a mixed wood of pale ochre tumbling down the steep chalky hillside.