A little Life in England – Reclaiming Portland's Quarried Landscape

Apart from the beaches, my favourite places in Portland are where nature is taking things back.

Finding Green

I love to visit the woodland of the Piddle Valley where my parents still live. It was where we spent a lot of time as kids. I find being enveloped in green calming, but it’s difficult to be enveloped in green on Portland. The cliffs and sea are beautiful, but much of the isle is lacking in greenery.

Like most of England, Portland's ancient oak forest would have been cleared thousands of years ago as nomadic hunters became farmers. Farming intensified and the Romans were the first to quarry large amounts of stone. Now Portland is pockmarked with quarries large and small. The limestone has been cut out and trucked away for grand buildings in London and beyond. There are still active quarries, some of which we walk around.

Regenerating Landscapes

There are many more disused quarries. The limestone landscape regenerates with cow parsley, grasses, bramble, ivy, alexanders and other wildflowers. In July the purples predominate: knapweed, budleia, mallow, thistle and oregano.

The image on the (much finer in real life) vase is by artist (and friend of my sister), Kate Please. You can see more of her beautiful work on her website: kateplease.com

I love the older, little quarries that have been colonised by early succession trees and shrubs, with sycamores predominating. They provide shelter from the fierce winds that buffet the island and are sanctuaries for birds and bored children. There is one near my sister's place. A path cuts through it, popular with dog walkers like me.

When I was walking through this week I heard young voices and turned to see children around a small fire. I said hello and asked what they were doing, whether they were cooking something (knowing that they weren't).

"Oh yes," said one, "marshmallows."

"S'mores," said another.

But they didn't have any marshmallows, or s'mores. They were just burning books.

"Our mum knows we're here," piped up a girl at the back.

I wondered about the parents. They're probably glad just to have some peace whilst their kids are playing outside, not looking at screens. They might not even care that they're burning books from the free library up the street. If only they would teach them how to make a proper fire and give them marshmallows and s'mores to toast.

I said nothing more and walked on, wanting not to be one of those adults who spoils moments of fun, remembering how much I used to love playing in the woods. I returned later and picked up the litter.

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Thank you for being one of the good humans.

Alex

P.S. Molly is now allowed to swim again, which is a relief as it has been HOT in England (a rarity and I am definitely not complaining). We are at the edge of a European heatwave and, though we don't have the 30°+ that London is experiencing, it has been muggy, in the twenties, and delightful to swim at the near end of Chesil Beach.

Even more delightful now that I don't need to drive. I bought a secondhand electric bike from Mud, Sweat and Gears and attached a basket for Molly to ride on the back. She tolerates this as it means we are...

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You can read more about my previous little life in Lyttelton by picking up a copy of "A New Zealand Diary: Living in Lyttelton".

The ebook is now at Amazon and all other ebook retailers.

The print book is available where all good books are sold and in Christchurch Libraries (If you want your library to get a copy, ask them!). Leslie’s Bookshop in Lyttelton has a few in stock.

And if you like the book, please let people know on Goodreads or wherever you bought it. That is an enormous help to independent authors like me.

Book details, a sample chapter and more information are at alexhallatt.com/nzd

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