Country diary: Tiny conifer saplings grow where the giants fell

Hamsterley Forest, County Durham: There is probably no one alive who remembers these windswept hillsides before it was a plantationFootsore, we reached the ruins of Metcalf's House that, until the beginning of the 19th century, was an inn on an old road between Teesdale and Weardale. On this frosty morning, it's the perfect spot for a sit-down, hands warmed by mugs of flasky tea. It wasn't difficult to imagine what a welcome sight this place must have been for weary drovers of packhorses that once carried almost everything across these Pennine hills before the advent of railways, decent roads and the internal combustion engine.Now, there is no blaze in the hearth, open to the skies, and the apse-shaped oven built into the wall is full of rubble and ferns. In the inn's heyday, when it had walls, doors and a roof, the air in these rooms must have been a fug of wood smoke, beer, hot beverages and warm bread. Continue reading...