As a young girl I can remember going for long walks with my parents around the beautiful countryside in North Wiltshire in which Malmesbury is situated.
I can remember picking primroses and cowslips as well as blue bells, to make into small bunches, from the hedgerows to take home to put in a vase in memory of our walks during the springtime. Blue bells didn't last very long and by the time you got them home they were often drooping for lack of moisture.
Unfortunately children are not allowed to pick flowers from the hedgerows any more because these flowers are very scarce to find and protected by law, but I feel they miss the opportunity of learning about the different aspects of the countryside, especially those who live in large towns.
There were also many other well-known wild flowers that grew in the hedgerows that I used to know the names off, but although I can remember some of these names, such as Red Robin, Cow Parsley etc., I could not now always remember what they looked like.
I also used to be able to recognise different types of trees, such as Elm. Oak, Horse Chestnut, Silver Birch to name but a few, but again as with some of the wild flowers am unable to put a name to some of them. I can remember being allowed to pick hazelnuts from trees when they were ready to be picked and eaten.
On one of our walks, as we went towards Easton Grey, I can remember seeing a large fenced off enclosure with high watchtowers situated in a clearing in a wood, and was told this had been a prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. It was very eerie to see this derelict site and often wondered about the prisoners who had been held there.
Of course it wasn't always spring or summertime we went on walks. We also went on walks in wintertime, especially on cold brisk days. If it had been snowing we had a great time throwing snowballs at each other, this kept us nice and warm. I have discovered an old photograph taken by my father on one of these walks in 1952. It shows my brother Geoff, my Mother, my younger brother Chris and myself having a lovely time on one of these walks. See below.
