I will say one thing in our defence – we were desperate. My husband and I had tried plan after plan to release some of the pressure on our family. After four years, we had exhausted every angle of viewing our problems, each plan frustrated by one circumstance or another. Sinking everything we had into buying a piece of woodland with no vehicular access or utilities of any kind was mad. But it would give us and our children a place to exist without all the usual stresses that had become part of our lives. A place we could go to be as loud as we wanted, as crazy as we wanted; a place we could deal with all the difficulties we face as a family in peace. The use to which the land could be put was heavily restricted by its status as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, so the wood had little business potential; to many it was useless. But to us it represented freedom. A place for our children to be children, where they could develop their love of the outdoors. We could let our imaginations soar, we could climb, run, build fires, whittle sticks, make dens, put up rope swings. The wood offered the prospect of a place we could be ourselves. We talked a lot… then made an offer.
Our first offer was rejected but with a hint it wouldn’t take much more. We took a deep breath and made a second offer. We reeled from the shock of a positive response. Plan 96X had become a reality. We couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. A year on and I stand there in our wood incredulous.
I have so much to be grateful for. For the first time in our lives we own a place of our own. We have our health, and we have each other. Let the adventures begin…
Trees of Sanctuary 