Last weekend we went native: my sisters and I. Lubix gave me a groupon voucher for Avon Tyrrell in the New Forest, so we decided to keep it sisterly and go at the heart of autumn. Bix hadn't seen my red-heart-atrium-room yet, so she stayed round the night before in my chamber with Katie.
The next morning we went vintage shopping down Christchurch rd, then I drove us all to Bransgore where we were to camp in a tepee for the night. After realising we'd come a bit unprepared we drove quickly to Burley to get some tea candles, so that we wouldn't have to go to bed as soon as the sun went down. We made it back just in time to go for a paddle in a canoe on the lake, followed by a go in the kayaks, which was incredible as there was no one else around, just the distant sound of screaming kids and the flight path from Hurn above our heads. Sometimes I paddled into the lily pads, then let myself drift as the leaves stroked the sides of the kayak, and I stared hard into the forest.
Afterwards we explored our local area, collecting sweet chestnuts as they were EVERYWHERE! Even dropping on our heads, the darn squirrels.
We found ourselves on the top of a hill just as the sun was setting, and the sky was so dramatic and moody with colourful Jesus-loves-me-sunbeams. We stood and watched in awe and took photos, and watched rabbits chasing each other, and then on the way back we stumbled upon a single deer, a fallow fawn I think, in the distance but not too far away, and it stood and stared back at us for a split second before it bounded away; but the moment, however brief, was magical and innocent.
We sat, witch-like, around the pot-bellied stove outside our tepee and magicked a fire. It was so occultish as though we were old hags crouched outside our ancient caves, with the moon rising, making silhouettes of the trees and the ritualistic objects and talismans that hung from the branches. We felt tribal, summoning the spirits and tapping into our animal totems.
The sky cleared up considerably, and we watched shooting stars from the meteor shower when it was dark, and ate our food and roasted chestnuts. Then we wrapped ourselves up in white duvets and stood in an open, moonlit field to watch more stars fall, and the strange, night-time cloud formations.
I slept well in the tepee as it was a mild night, and thank gawd Mum had put the old duvets in the boot destined for the charity shop, as me and Katie forgot our sleeping bags! In the morning me and Katie stole into the woods with my new vintage nightie and took ghost-like, madwoman-in-the-woods photos (though this episode is a blog post in and of itself!) and on the way to the bivouac we'd found abandoned we found a whole herd of fallow deer grazing nearby, closer this time. I froze, deciding to reject the decision to try to take a photo, instead to just watch for as long as they lingered. Another incredible moment, though short-lived, as they're fast. Deer is definitely my animal totem, especially as they feature so much in The Thicket Dwellers (also set in the New Forest, though a fictional village).
We then packed away our stuff and drove to Burley, where the ponies roam freely, and we ate a huge slice of carrot cake between us, then went for a walk on the heath. The sun was so warm and we didn't need our coats. It was perfect.
One shop sold antlers that fallow deer shed each year, found by foresters and brought in to sell as souvenirs. So me and Lubix bought a pair that were found on the same date, so therefore probably from the same deer, and we each took one home, which is quite special between sisters. (Unfortunately for Katie, deer don't have three antlers; but as she bought a ridiculously lovely birdcage the day before from What Alice Found with a butterfly that was thrown in (or flown in!) for free, and with my money, we felt she had something quite special already and we didn't feel so bad.)
Then we went to The Queen's Head for food and a pint, and though we had to wait for nearly an hour, the food was good, and ended the weekend on a high. <3 Burley and The New Forest <3
- Nina x x x
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