Mill Lawn brook

We ventured out into the cold winter world, biting winds, which raced through and amongst the valleys and the hills carried on icy gusts, nipped at any exposed skin. Tramping the wet boggy valley bottoms which separate Ridley and Berry woods, the sun burst through the clouds to temporarily illuminate the oranges and browns of the heaters and last years ferns, all topped with crowns of skeletal trees which hug the hill tops, forming the ancient woods; the focus of the days ambling. We crossed Mill Lawn brook, not long after its formation in the damp fold of Ridley Bottom high on Ridley Plain. Ponies in their woolly winter cloths basked in the fleeting episodes of soft warm sunshine; the warmth only noticeable out of the wind, sheltered by woodland stands.