Wooded beech slopes below Bisley village

I drove Helena to the quite remote Oakridge village hall where they are holding a Christmas market. We arrived by 8-30am having defrosted the car and driven up to the top of the hills in rather icy conditions. Winter is approaching. I forgot to take my camera and so missed the chance for pretty pictures of frosty scenes under a clear sky.

When I returned mid-afternoon to pick her up I stopped just on the southern edge of Bisley village about two miles from Oakridge. The beech trees line these steeper slopes, which were formed by the cutting action of the stream just at the bottom of the picture. The stream itself is formed by the large outpouring of water from the famous Bisley Wells marking the spring line. The wells are less than two hundred yards to the right of this scene. 

You can see the vague impression in the background of a few houses all built of the Cotswold limestone. There is also the first of the mills on this stream, called Crickity Mill, which is sited just downstream to the left of the picture. I went there on a walk about forty years ago when a friend had just bought the old building and was about to convert it to a home. I must go back down this valley again come springtime.

When the sheep spotted me they suddenly came running up under the beech trees, as if they were expecting to be fed. I had to disappoint them.