Strolling round the deer park

It’s been many years since I walked around Berkeley Deer park, so we decided to spend the morning there and also check out the regular farmer’s market that is held in the castle grounds. We headed for the park first. It’s a little way out of time, but the terrain is pretty straightforward. There used to be many permissive paths through the park, but these were closed off, and only the main public footpath was accessible. There’s a very fine line of oaks across the top – perhaps three or four hundred years old by the size of them. Once we’d got to the far end, we first spied the deer herd in the distance. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the round trip back to the castle was very pleasant. We had a hot chocolate and then walked around the market, picking up some pickle and hummus at one of the stalls. Before heading back, we also went down to Sarah’s Field to check out progress there. It certainly seemed in very good condition as the trees and hedgerows have filled out. The…