Mi Esquimal Está Lleno De Vino: Foraging for Chestnuts

Yesterday I decided to walk up to the wood that I drive past regularly, so I saddled up the dogs and off we went. Obviously I took my foraging basket along for the ride. Good decision. The wood was full of sweet chestnut trees and the ground was littered with them. After pricking my fingers on the spines several times I found the best way to open them was to lay them on a tree stump and roll a bit of wood across them until the nuts spilled out.

Many of the ones that were already opened had been raided by squirrels and had started to rot or only contained small nuts. Okay, I thought, I will play the squirrels at their own game, so I started to take the big nuts and left the small ones in a pile atop the tree stump each time I moved on to another area of the wood.

As I was leaving the wood, I stopped to gather a few more and a guy and his young son walked toward me as I was rolling out the nuts and asked "Are you looking for Chestnuts?" "Yes I replied" "There aren't any around love" he said So I tilted my basket towards him and as the nuts rolled over the edge onto the floor his eyes widened and he said "Where did you get all those from?"
I think he half expected to wander around the wood looking for bags of Chestnuts lying on the floor, with REDUCED stickers on them. NATURES BEST, Reduced for quick sale. Was £2.39, NOW 40p. Use by Christmas.
The dogs were getting bored and decided to lie down next to me, so I gathered a few more to top of my basket and headed home to shell them.

This was my first visit to this bit of woodland and I have to say that it is gorgeous. It's actually 5 different woods joined together. Or rather one wood which has been claimed by 5 different organisations over the years. As I walked down the track I came across this interesting feature. I'm not sure if a kind of barrier / fence or some other woodland lore, but looking at it, I think I would like to have a go at it and make a fence for the top end of the allotment. If I get it. It's like weaving with branches and I love the effect. As you can see from the photo at the bottom, foilage has started to grow back.

The wood is huge and I didn't get to see any of it really. I spent 3 hours collecting Chestnuts whilst the dogs ran around enjoying themselves in new surroundings. I did stop for a few minutes just to take in the beauty and the peace and quiet but I need to spend a whole day in there.
If we get a half decent day during this coming week, I will make a little picnic for me and dogs and spend the time looking around it properly.