Three go to Petworth by Ness
It had been a month since our KW holiday and seeing as it was only a week or so until Rachel's birthday, we decided to have a day out together. I say 'we' decided, actually Heather and I plotted to kidnap Rachel for the day for pre-birthday shenanigans as we wanted to give her our gifts.
We love walking in nature, connecting with the trees, plants, animals and land spirits and Petworth Deer Park in the South Down National Park is a stunning place to visit. It is a popular place for dog walkers, walkers, fisherman/ladies and of course, Followers of the Old Ways.
Petworth Deer Park has free roaming deer and this time of year, the rutting has just about finished and the herds and groups are established. There are about 700-800 deer at Petworth Park today. The Park itself is about 700 acres and is home to many trees - some are around 1000 years old.
I picked Rachel up from her house just before 9am and I had arranged to meet Heather at a nearby pub in Petworth that serves breakfast. A hearty breakfast was much needed before our walk. Discovering that the pub was closed, we needed a Plan B as quick as possible. Heather suggested we pop into Petworth Town itself which is only a very short distance from the park. Petworth is a lovely unspoilt market town with lots of antique shops, boutiques and book shops but more importantly a wonderful tea room called Tiffins of Petworth. which served breakfast as well as afternoon tea. We were warmly greeted upon entering the cosy premises which had a lovely fireplace in the corner and decorated with pretty lights, bunting and an assortment of quirky teapots on a shelf.
A full english and a pumpkin spiced latte was the order of the morning which was served on large plates and in pretty old fashioned mugs - perfect!
We then headed off to the park - it was a rainy day but that never deters us from having a wander. Someone said that "it is the wrong clothes, not the wrong weather", so we had our walking boots, and raincoats ready. The rain did actually stop just as we reached the park, so off we trundled. We don't usually have a plan for our walks, we tend to follow Heather who has an inbuilt sat nav and directs us to all the right places. We walked down the path to the lake chatting about all sorts as we do, and those chats usually turn to KW projects for the coming year. We take photos of the landscape, of plants that would be added to our Herbarium and just connect with the energy of the land. There are a lot of sweet chestnut trees and most of the cases has fallen and the chestnuts gone - either eaten by the deer or squirreled away by the other wildlife for winter. We also saw a lot of fungi - not unusual at this time of year as it been damp and warm.
We walked past the Petworth House Estate which houses the park but is cordoned off with a huge set of iron gates as well as the estate walls. That is also an interesting place to visit if you are ever in the area.
I am not sure how long we walked for, but we pretty much walked around the entire park, stopping to admire and connect with the large oak trees, take photos of the fungi for identification and stop to look at the many deer that were grazing nearby. Some of them moved away quite quickly when we walked by, but later on at the edges of the park, they just carried on grazing, occasionally looking up at us, but generally going about their day - they were so close, it was amazing to see.
Back at the car park, we decided to head back into town to Tiffins for a much needed cuppa and cake - of course!
It was a lovely much needed day out and get together. We have a huge list of places to visit on our 'jollies list' and are looking forward to crossing them off as time allows next year.
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