[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#fffde8″ custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” admin_label=”Blog Title” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”30px|0px|11px|0px||” custom_padding_tablet=”0px||0px|” custom_padding_phone=”” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Page Heading” _builder_version=”4.27.3″ text_font=”||||” header_font=”|||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_line_height=”1.3em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”top” animation_intensity_slide=”10%” hover_enabled=”0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Spring 2023 Blog<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s been a soggy start to spring this year, but that has not dampened our mood. We have some exciting news for you!<\/p>\n As a family we used to spend hours wandering through Epping Forest in all seasons and weathers. One of the most prominent trees I can remember visiting as a child was the Hornbeam Tree, home to the Toadflax family in the books. It was a gnarly twisted old tree, with a hole through the middle allowing you to peer through to the forest beyond. I remember the tree perched above a wooded valley, where down below a spring trickled out of the hillside and meandered through stretched tree roots. Except I don\u2019t remember, as it\u2019s over 25 years since I was last there, and the tree is nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n Whilst trawling through Jill\u2019s vast archives of sketchbooks, notepads, and illustrations, I found a photo of the Hornbeam Tree taken in the mid 1990s. Coincidently, around the same time Country Walking magazine got in contact with me to ask if I could help plan out a walking route for a feature taking in key locations from the Brambly Hedge books and significant landmarks from Jill\u2019s life in and around Epping.<\/p>\n The walking route would include the London Underground station at Epping, where the idea for Brambly Hedge was born, Jill\u2019s blue plaque on Church Hill, her parents\u2019 old shop Pynes Stores, and then down into the forest to find that missing Hornbeam tree.<\/p>\n I had heard rumours that the tree had been lost to a storm a few years ago, but equally I had heard rumours to the contrary. After a lot of clambering around in the undergrowth between tree stumps and piles of decaying branches we happened upon a fairly unassuming hornbeam tree, by no means the biggest or most impressive in the area. It was clearly very old, one side of the tree had collapsed to the forest floor, but crucially it had a hole in the trunk through which you could peer out at the forest beyond. We walked round to the undamaged side of the tree and it all clicked into place.<\/p>\n There it was! The view of the tree as seen in the illustrated cross-section featured in Winter Story and the photos from the archive. This was The<\/em> Hornbeam tree.<\/p>\n I subsequently revisited the tree with Epping Forest\u2019s biodiversity representative, who confirmed that the tree is in good health considering the damage, and likely to be around 400 years old! It\u2019s incredible to think that the humble home of the Toadflax family could have been a sapling in the 1620s, a time when the first Charles was crowned King.<\/p>\n You can read more about the walking route through Epping in the April edition of Country Walking. I would also like to thank Jenny Walters (Features Editor) and Tom Bailey, (Photographer) for all their help in our quest to find the tree.<\/p>\n There is also a feature about finding the Hornbeam Tree in the Guardian here<\/a>.<\/p>\n We will be releasing more information about the tree in due course.<\/p>\n —————————————————————————————–<\/p>\n Aside from our exciting journey through Epping Forest, there has been plenty going on around Brambly Hedge.<\/p>\n We have had countless emails over the years asking for Brambly Hedge to made available in French again, we are pleased to announce that French editions are now on the way, with the first books due to publish in Spring 2024. In March the new Pop-Up Book launched in the USA and Canada.\u00a0 A new German language edition of Spring Story has been released and we also have new editions publishing in China this spring.<\/p>\n
\n