Out through the fields and the woods...

It's a particular delight this year to be able to access field paths running through woodland and open countryside.  We did meet a fair few people walking and cycling on this route, but all at a safe distance.

Leaving the village by the Tilkey road running north, we passed the little hamlet of Tilkey, once the site of brick-making.  Some of the earliest bricks made in Britain, after the Romans, were made in this little hamlet.

Along by thick hawthorn hedges and through the underpass, taking us under the 120 - predictably graffitied.

Through an area of woodland, the paths slippery after recent rain, even though the first three weeks of April were bone-dry here.

Past this house with its elaborate plasterwork and Strawberry Hill gothic windows.

The road leads on towards the Marks Hall arboretum, one of our favourite paces, now closed for the duration.  An avenue of mixed chestnut and oak leads along to where the mansion once stood.

On a regular Saturday in early May the place would be bustling with family groups, but not this year.  this view was taken through the fence around the Arboretum.  We, of course, are on the public footpath.

Land under the plough and a row of beehives at the field's edge.  We are in deep countryside here.

Then, emerging on to a lane, we follow the very muddy track through the woods and down the minor roads back to base.