Having told of how I felt when I found the woods at Madeley/Coalport. imagine my feelings when, at Ironbridge, I found the much larger wood, just across the river. As a child, I used to cross the old Ironbridge most Saturday mornings, taking with me a box of matches, some string, a penknife, an axe, some sandwiches and a bottle of water (later this became 'pop' - my favourite being Dandelion and Burdock) [SJN Got to say, a favourite of mine also!].
The matches were to start a fire, the axe, the penknife and string were to make spears, and bows and arrows, and the use to which I put the food and drink are obvious! In those few years, from ten to thirteen, I never saw anyone else in those woods and only heard people on two occasions - far too far away to know what they were saying.. It was the closest thing, for me, to Heaven.
The best part of these woods were the old quarry, right at the top of the valley opposite our house.
Parents to-day would have nightmares at letting their children disappear like that, all day but that's what I did; I'd leave the house just after breakfast and get back when I was sufficiently hungry (having eaten all my sandwiches!). This was sometimes around one o'clock but often later. Still, today, I love the smell of ferns because the woods were full of these beautiful plants - I never liked bracken as much because it was less graceful and less attractive, to my eyes. Today, at the bottom of our garden, here in Sussex, under a 50-year old apple tree, is a wooden seat that I put there many years ago; it's, now, surrounded by ferns and on a hot summer's day, that's where I like to sit, in the shade - most probably, with a glass of chilled, white wine!