After a hectic time with family on our last visit to Parkham, we were able to have a more relaxed time when we came down in September for just over a week. Although we arrived in drizzly rain we had a few good days and were able to get out and about, most of the time.
As usual we spent a fair time walking the lanes around the village and we were amazed at the abundance of acorns and horse chestnuts (conkers) this year. It is the same in Cheshire and apparently it is because this is a ‘mast year’.
According to the Woodland Trust, every few years, some species of trees and shrubs produce a bumper crop of their fruits or nuts. The collective term for these fruits and nuts is 'mast', and these bumper years are called mast years.
In a mast year the trees are guaranteed that, after predation by birds, squirrels and small mammals, some fruit and nuts will still be left over to survive and grow into new trees. Producing nuts is costly work and slightly stunts the tree’s growth, but as mast years tend to happen every 5 or more years, it’s worth the payoff for some of the crop to germinate into new saplings.
Whilst I do remember other years where we had good crops of nuts, I do not remember walking through acorns more than an inch deep under oak trees nor seeing so many very large conkers around. I don’t believe playing conkers in school is as popular as when I was a youngster and perhaps this is part of the reason why we see so many!
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| Our favourite view |
On sunny days we walked along the coast path from Westward Ho! and also down to the small beach at Bucks Mills at low tide. We did a round trip of around 4 miles from the car park at The Skern along the beach to the Pebbleridge Cafe next to the visitor centre and back. Pebbleridge Cafe provides good coffee and is a recommended dog-friendly stopping place.
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| Bucks Mills |
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| Northam Burrows |
Much of our time back in the village was spent catching up with good friends over a cup of coffee or tea. We did however plant a few more grasses grown from seed to fill in the garden area where we have removed the very scraggly lavender plants.
We have also begun to plan future small projects in the cottage for when the weather is not so good. One of the more urgent tasks is to repair the front door where the weather bar at the bottom has rotted and dropped off. Hopefully this will be sorted whilst we are away, although there will still be some repainting to do.
