Woodland Trails at Drumlanrig Castle

On our recent holiday in Dumfries and Galloway, we visited the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle, which offer beautiful woodland walks. (There's also a nice cafe!). 

The walks offer lovely views across the countryside

 and views of Drumlanrig Castle itself too

 The woodlands themselves are beautiful too

 and there's a lovely river running through them

 Hidden away on the river, is a stone archway, created by the landscape artist Andy Goldsworthy

Goldsworthy's art is always concerned with how nature interacts with human constructions and it's lovely to see how this arch is becoming overgrown with mosses and small plants and even young tree saplings. (The National Galleries of Scotland are currently hosting an exhibition of Goldsworthy's work, which is well worth visiting, you can find out more here). 

The woodlands were full of amazing fungi when we visited. We were particularly interested to see these Fly Agarics. The photo below shows a fully developed Fly Agaric 

and below is a newly emerging Fly Agaric, as it breaks through the soil. 

(Fly Agarics are poisonous). 

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A year ago on my Crafty Green Substack, I posted about how a good friend had died and how I was hoping to deal with all the stuff she left behind. Today, for Recycle Week, I posted about my progress. You can read it here.