Tallywhacker Wood - Open for Business

 So, September 2nd was a bit of a milestone for the project. We both named the field, and also officially opened the permissive paths. It was a big deal for me - so I made a big deal of it - and invited some family and friends to come and make a day of it with a picnic. 

The weather was hugely kind and my friends/neighbours/family were also hugely kind. The sun showed up and so did lots of lovely people. We even had family here from Australia. 


We did a little picnic-ing , a little wine drinking, a lot of chatting and a bit of tree planting. 




I had , in recent weeks dug in and installed some signage (see previous blog entry) to mark the new paths and confirm the field naming. It was the first time most visitors had seen them so it was nice that we could do all of this on one sunny day. 




My parents performed the ribbon cut and officially named the wood and opened the paths. 





So it was great to have moved onto to a new phase in the projects life - it feels as though it officially exists now -  which is new and different and strange - but good and necessary for the long term. 

Coincidentally, two great things happened that same week. My good friend Mark was visiting from Thailand (to inspect the trees he planted with his partner in 2022) and without prompting, registered his visit with Google - which means you can now search for Tallywhacker wood on google and find the place. Again, its makes it all feel a bit more real and official. 



But best of all, my observant friend Amanda (she wouldn't miss something like this) spotted that Apple Maps had updated their satellite imagery recently and now the planting/paths show up nicely on that platform (previously only Strava showed this). Again, its nice to reflect all the hard work and see the changes we have made - rather than seeing an old sheep field. Only google maps left to update! 



So, all told it was a great day, we stayed until the sunset and I savoured the experience. It is everything I hoped the project would be and more. Hopefully it will be one of many events we can hold on the field 
in the woodland. 



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