Winter Review.

Instagram has taken over from our blogging posts; as has been the case for many.

For me, this has been due to having had various big projects over the past few years, back to back – or rather, consecutively! So here is a round up of some joys of The Oaks & our locality during this, and previous January months.

Perhaps as time has been so scarce, I’ve appreciated any moments working outside more than ever. Tuning to nature and switching off the ‘noise’ from the manmade, outside world is always a positively grounding thing to do.

West Sussex is an area of heavy clay, saturated over winter. But we have been enjoying preserved summer / autumn grown fruit and vegetables throughout the less productive months.

The Winter Larder

Dried apple slices or whole stored fruit, stacked in boxes and nestled individually in home grown hay from the Wild Flower strip. Also frozen currants & gooseberries. Dried Kale and dried tomatoes, flavoured kombucha, Marigold & herbal teas, and various fruit chutneys, jellies and jams. As well as Sloe and Rhubarb gin, from the plentifully abundant crops this year!

The Oaks in January showcases Winter Structure outside. And, for us, respite indoors.

January @ The Oaks

Winter Walks

Locally, notable winter walks include Warnham Deer Park, St Leonard’s Forest, and Knepp Rewilding (where the winter is a fantastic time to see their herds of Longhorn cattle, huge Tamworth pigs, and Statuesque Red Deer).

We always try to pack in as many Winter Walks as we can; making the most of the stark and far reaching clear skies on some days, or embracing the mist or fog on others. Most are nearby. None further than East or West Sussex.

Our local vineyard, Denbies & the bracing South Downs.

Winter Walks @ Knepp Rewilding.

Nymans Woodland Walk in January

The green of the moss and the greys of the lichen in winter woodlands always seems more vivid after or during rainfall. Winter is a great time for enjoying one of the carefully laid paths traversing the undulating woodlands on The Nymans Estate. Free for visitors to park, there are a clearly colour coded choice of easy, style (no climbing required!) routes.

Nymans’ formal garden, run by the National Trust, offers magnificently deep boarders and fantastically colourful year round interest, the 13 hectares of estate that includes the Ancient Woodland has been designated with SSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) due to it’s ecological importance, and huge variety of forna; particularly ferns.

Within the formal gardens (registered partners with the RHS, whose members can enter free), the garden houses have been home to rare collections of plants; particularly from South America. Beyond, far reaching views span the High Weild & further, as the weather allows!

Wood carvings in the Nymans woodland.

One poor Owl looks very worried and unhappy. I wonder if he is contemplating the vast change in the trajectory of environmental change over recent decades compared to that of the hundreds of years that the woodland has lived previously.

The other owl looks content, calmer and altogether more stable. Let’s hope he can foresee beyond the present, and into a more sustainable future.

Click here to link to some of our favourite walking routes on the main website, ‘Local Area’, ‘Walks’.

Winter feed for our Soay – hay from our summer wild flower strip.

At the end of each summer, we try to time cutting the long grasses and wild flowers to catch the maximum sunlight hours for drying the cuttings out thoroughly. This usually takes a few days, during which we will toss the cuttings to ensure that all stems are exposed to the sun’s drying rays and air. Our sheep, for all their hardy ruggedness, are quite fussy about their winter feed, when it’s needed, and will not tolerate anything but the freshest, sweetest of hay!