Cats in the Kitchen, Flora in the Garden

I think today the time is right for me to take you on that magical journey, that I promised on the opposite side of the river bank to the castle. Here it is then. You walk down to the river and turn and take the woodland path, the river is to your left, and below you as you climb the path. You can hear it joyfully burbling over the rocks and see slats of weak sunlight through the trees as you walk along the narrow woodland track. All you can hear is the rustling of the leaves and the sound of the early morning birds singing in the trees. Whats that sound, 'knock, knock, knock', ah that's Mr Woodpecker working away at a tree. If you are very quiet you will see squirrels scurrying through the branches of the trees. A glint of red flashes through the trees up towards the fields on the right, don't worry its only Mr Fox on his way home after an evening's hunting. It is so early in the morning you could be the only person living in this wood. Suddenly, you come upon a flight of stone steps cut tightly into the side of the rocks.



Before you is a narrow path with a sheer drop on the left hand side, you tentatively walk along it and before you looms up a doorway cut into the rock. You have arrived, all you can hear is the sound of chanting. You approach clutching the gift you have brought, the chanting stops and a deep voice booms, 'Who approaches, make yourself known.' You have no option but to walk into the dank cave where a large man in a monk's habit and swirling cloak is tending the fire, on top of which is a tripod from which hangs a cooking pot. His hair and beard are white and grizzled and his clothes are dusty and tattered. You hold out your gift of newly baked bread and a flagon of home brewed ale, which he takes from you with wrinkled calloused hands. There are herbs hanging from the cave walls, feathers, a snake skin and other things you cannot quite identify, you can see that there are further caves behind him. You manage to stammer out the herbs you need for the restorative you are making. The hermit disappears into the interior cave.



Two dark eyes are watching you from inside the cave, you jump, and almost turn and run, then your eyes begin to make out an owl blinking at you from a ledge in a corner. You look at the view of the river from the window, that is cut out of the stone, to calm yourself and help you remember there is an everyday world out there. The window ledge has rolls of manuscripts lying on it and a beautiful piece of quartz, a spider scuttles from its web in the corner. After a while, your heart still pounding, the hermit returns with what you have asked for. You thank him most kindly and back out of his presence the herbs clutched to your chest. You feel the need to run, but you are brave and slowly walk back over the ledge and back up onto the woodland track. As you get nearer to the end of the track you feel much happier as you hear the sound of cows going back to the fields after being milked and hear chatter coming from the nearby cottages.



I hope you enjoyed that magical interlude. These caves or cells do exist at the end of the track, there are three caves. The legend is that many, many centuries ago, around the tenth century actually, when England and Scotland were constantly at war with each other. The King of Scotland was defeated by the King of England, and he resigned his crown and became a monk in Scotland. He then travelled down to England to a priory that was built near this river. He eventually left the priory and went to live a solitary life as a hermit in the caves by the river. The cells were used centuries later to hide the monks when the Scottish Reivers invaded the area, and later still they were used as store rooms for the priory. Obviously the tale I like best in the tale of the Hermit.