Walked with my sister and her kids up the College Valley in #Northumberland the other day. It was windy, with patchy sun and cloud, and the odd short shower blown in. My sister, who works in peat bog management, was impressed with the apparent bog restoration in places. Tree planting going on (with flourishing woods planted 30-odd years ago), free-ranging native cattle doing their thing, and sphagnum moss and bilberry growing thick.
At the head of this valley is the Hen Hole, a craggy ravine in the side of the Cheviot, down which the College Burn races in a series of waterfalls. Every time I've been to the Hen Hole, it's been in shadow, even when there's sunshine elsewhere; last time I saw peregrines, this time a hovering hawk.
Listen carefully, and above the rushing water you might hear the sounds of fairy music that once lured a hunting party through a crack in the rocks into the hill, never to be seen again.
Northumbrian Stories