Hello, I’m Rachel. I write about nature and creativity to encourage connection and wellbeing.
The day could have been spent almost entirely in the car, driving to and from the airport, concrete, roadworks, traffic, and sensory overwhelm. The week before the same journey had given me a huge headache and required time in bed to recover.
So this time, we did it differently. We went to the trees*.
Maybe it was focusing on the senses in the Summer Writing Sanctuary, maybe it was being in such a different forest from my usual Sussex woodlands. Maybe it was believing it could help me deal with the day.
But this time, I made sure to experience it with all my senses, really be in the moment, soaking it all up.
We felt the temperature change straight away, from the stuffiness of the car to the cool breeze rustling the leaves. From the glare of the road to the beams of sunlight filtering through the canopy. From the rumble of the cars to the twittering of the birds.
We were enveloped by these towering beings, they welcomed us in, and wrapped us in their world.
I explored their bark, not just with my eyes and fingers, but with a whole body hug, fully experiencing the differences between the trunk and the ground beneath its feet.
Amongst the oaks and beech, the ground was cosseted in moss, inviting us to look closely at its delicate fronds and stroke its delicate bouncy mounds.
I noticed lichen, the way the woodgrain swirled on dead wood, and then, shining out among the greens, an almost luminescent slime mold fulfilling its role in returning the tree’s nutrients to the earth.
Once in the arboretum, every sense told us the treescape had changed. The light dimmed, pine needles crunched underfoot, and those on the tree released their unique scent, so we breathed in the smell of childhood summer holidays and of course Christmas. The shapes, colours, and textures changed, their towering trunks reaching high above any native species, their branches spiralling out in a more ordered pattern. We cricked our necks attempting to see to their tops.
These trees asked not just to be hugged and noticed, but a musical exploration. Tapping the bark of a Douglas Fir, I realised different bits varied in pitch, demonstrating how the bark of these North American species protects it from a different set of challenges.
And taste? Well, it was very good ice cream from the car park kiosk!
*We were dropping off at Bournemouth Airport, right next to the New Forest.
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