Deep in the Golden Forest

I took this picture a couple of years back when I visited the ancient woodland of The New Forest National Park in Hampshire, England. Hoping to time my visit at the peak of autumn colour, I set out on a cold and grey day into the forest. As I left behind the rows of shops and houses of the town of Highcliffe, my surroundings became more natural and colourful the further I went. Past the open heathland of ponies and gorse bushes, until trees enshrouded the road. The deeper I went into the forest, the richer the yellows and reds became. I turned off the main road into a narrow lane, to find the thickest parts of the forest. Crawling slowly along my jaw dropped in awe of the sight ahead of me. Gusts of wind whipped up leaves from the trees, dropping them diagonally across the road in front in a continuous flow. It was snowing giant flakes of gold all around, like something out of a fairy tale, except this magic was real. I found a suitable place to stop and ventured on foot on the freshly laid autumn carpet. I walked as far as I could until the undergrowth became too thick to navigate through. That is where I took this shot, deep in the golden forest. As I write and post this, I look forward to heading back to the New Forest tomorrow, to see what treasures I can discover this year. You can be sure I’ll post the results here :-) Join me on: Google+ Facebook Blog http://flic.kr/p/hvUXCk