The hole of Hatfield Forest

We spent most of today in Hatfield Forest, near Bishop's Stortford in Essex. For the average day visitor it's a great place to run around, have a meal or an ice-cream and soak up the sun.

But Hatfield is a magnificent example of a royal hunting forest and is full of wonderful trees. Most of the pictures I took were of trees or the group so I decided to be a little more imaginative and view some of the forest through the hole in an ancient field maple, Acer campestre. To my surprise Dr Rackham went behind the tree and made a face through the hole - a very flippant moment for such a serious academic! I haven't posted that one! You can see the alternative version here.

After dinner this evening we took rowing boats out on the River Stour which once powered Flatford Mill and marks the boundary between Essex and Suffolk at this point.