Steep Meadow is surrounded by wildlife.
Just a few examples are - the deer who come in the garden to eat my strawberries right by the back door, the wild boar who dig up the verges, the buzzards who prey on the rabbits in the fields, the foxes who check out my chickens, the slow worm and grass snake seen in the orchard, the bats that skim through the night skies and the toads who always seem to be on the drive.
In the late spring and summer we have many colourful insects - dragon flies, damsel flies, Mayflies,Orange Tips, Gatekeepers Meadow Browns and Small Skippers.
Being in the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean means there some lovely areas of ancient forests. Just on the Wye valley side - the Lower Wye Gorge and Highmeadow Woods, the tree cover is 48%, making the Wye Valley the most wooded protected landscape in Britain.
A couple of years ago John and I took part in a survey of the ancient trees in the Wye Valley which was fascinating, there were some marvellous old oaks and yews. In the local churchyard there is an ancient yew and marking the border with Wales are some ancient oaks commonly known as the border oaks
The Forest of Dean was a Saxon hunting ground, then it became a Royal Hunting reserve for hundreds of years. Norman kings loved to hunt deer and wild boar which are still abundant today.
There are 20 million trees such as oak, beech, ash, birch and holly. If you go to GoApe you can experience climbing amongst them!