My friend who I know on-line as Moonie came to visit from Australia and we spent a day together.   I collected her from the station with my kids and we had lunch out. Then, in the afternoon my husband looked after the kids while we explored the local countryside.

I had a wonderful experience meditating in those woods last summer while my visiting friend was visiting sacred aboriginal lands in Australia.  It was great to be able to share a place so special to me..... here are some pictures so you can share it too.

We started our afternoon by going to find a lovely old beech tree which had taught me about the stifling effect of being over-protective last summer.  There was still icy bits on the ground from the snow we had here on Friday morning.
	After a short walk we found the old beech tree, and spent some time looking around it.
Then we moved on along the road which runs along the top of the valley to a place where you can pull off the road and walk a path which runs along the ridge line along to a point called Ivinghoe Beacon.  This is another place I used for meditation last summer.
	Driving back along the road we saw some deer in the fields.
There were so few other cars on the road we could just stop anywhere to admire the views and wildlife.
	At the end of that road we turned towards another part of the woodland, and heading down a track to a parking area we found deer in the trees just beside the car.
From here we drove further along the road and turned off heading down a steep winding road leading into the valley on the other side of the hillside.
	At the bottom of the hill there is a very quaint village.  Even on a gray, cold day like last Friday (12th March) it had a kind of timeless charm.  Many of the buildings are hundreds of years old.
When we arrived there was a lady feeding the ducks and swans on the village pond.  We watched her for a while and chatted then went to explore more of the village.
Sadly it started to rain as we left the village so we couldn't take any more photos.  We drove back up the winding road to the woodland and then headed across the top of the hills and down into the valley again near a small town where in used to work.   Here we saw a ruined castle and took another road up onto the hill to the woodland, through a private part of the estate where a large manor house dating back to the 14th century is now a private management college. Then we drove home via the hills on the other side of the valley, past the zoo and over Dunstable Downs.

All Text and Graphics are © Joanne Hedges unless otherwise stated and may NOT be reproduced without written permission.