Two ponies on a steep hillside near Box

(Note: Change of picture)
After second thoughts, I've decided to change to a different view of the same scene.


With the sun shining I decided to head to Nailsworth to get some specific groceries, and drove via Minchinhampton Common for some air and the views over the high Cotswold grasslands. I'd hoped a skylark or two might be singing but I heard nothing. I looked around for interesting pictorial scenes but didn't get excited.

On the way back from Nailsworth, which lies at the bottom of its own valley which becomes a tributary of the River Frome at Stroud, I chose to drive back along a narrow lane leading along the hillside towards Avening. I wanted to check on viewpoints which open up when the the thick leaf cover falls in winter.

Near and above Longford's Mill I drove through a grove which had beautiful light shining through the many trees, but the sun was setting over the far hillside before I could park and record it. I noticed these two ponies as I then drove out of the glade which prompted me to park and walk back to where they were grazinbg.

At first they ignored me completely as I'm sure they knew there wasn't long left before dusk to eat heartily which was what they were doing. A man walked along the lane and we had a good chat. He is a local in fact he bought the house next to the one in which he was born and has been thereabouts all of his 70 years.

He said these ponies are taken on to different hillsides to graze the grass and keep the scrub down. He said that during summer months highland cattle are used on this hillside. I enjoyed being able to stand very close to them and I used a small prime lens for the first time in ages. They did come down to where I stood beside the electric fence and I got some very good close-ups of their heads close to the grass chomping away vigorously. But I wanted to record both of them as my blip.

I'll return to this valley again as the man I met mentioned several good vistas as well as footpaths I hadn't known about.