The sharp edge of Jack Frost’s teeth bite into your face as you walk along the wooded path, bringing in the first of a fresh 352 days. 2025 is already gone, a memory blown away in the bitter cold wind as you forge forwards into 2026.
For many, fireworks are set off skyward and drinks are raised and downed as the clock strikes midnight and the new year begins. But what of the next day? How best to spend it? Why not with nature and the very roots of the Earth?
Going for a walk
Tall trees surround your path, sheltering you from the world outside the woods. They creak and groan in the wind, protesting be pushed around by nature’s forceful hand. Ferocious ferns fight back, fending off the frost and remaining ever luscious and green as the trees around them lose their leaves and colours to the winter. Crows caw and woodpeckers peck, drilling into the wood like workers would drill into the ground. The whole woodland is alive and teaming with fauna and surviving flora, flora that will be resurrected in the coming spring. It’s the perfect start to new year, but more is yet to come.
Entering the home of the fairies
There is more to this woods than meets the eye, for this small woodland outside the village of Scremerston is also a fairy trail. Created by local people, the Scremerston Fairy Trail is a magical, fairy-themed woodland trail that runs parallel to the former mining village.
Walk deep into these woods and the fairy-themed surprises you will find are abundant and amazing. First of all, ring the horseshoe bell so the fairies know you’re there. Then simply explore, viewing their little houses built into the trees and the messages they have left for every passer-by who walks the wonderful woods.
Gifts from the fairies of mystical, healing hog stones and a chain for you to leave your name. Advice from Mr Fox to “rely on your instincts” and have a “playful spirit” as well as advice from a tree to “stand tall and proud” and “stick to your roots”. It is fun and interesting to discover this home where the fairies live that has been so well built by local volunteers.
A brand-new year has just begun and there is plenty to do. But start it off well by getting down into the roots of your local area and discovering all the interesting things it has to offer. From history, to natural beauty to things like the fairy trail, there is plenty to discover in nature and for enthusiastic explorers, the countryside is calling.
