Happy Caves

Following a chance meeting on the Common with Steve Budden, the Commons Warden, I took his advice and went for a nice walk down to the Happy Valley. Why? Well firstly to try and work off three days of sprouts and turkey but mainly to see the great work that the working parties have been doing, clearing all the overgrown vegetation and installing new woodland steps down to the old caves.
These old caves, called by some as the Old Kitchen and others as Sweeps Caves because they were once used as a soot dump, were originally designed to house some benches so that visitors to the Cold Baths could sit and gaze over the wonderful view of the valley.
I recommend you take the time during the holiday break to take the family for a walk down to the valley to see the new views, see if you can find the oldest carvings in the rocks too. It's a lovely location and the air is certainly freshening.

Click any of the pictures or here to be taken to a gallery of photographs from the caves.

A view of the new steps.

A close-up look at some old carvings.

Comments

[John Hayes Fisher]

Difficult to say as it was some time since we were last there and I think the leaves were on the trees then. I guess they are stunning this morning....think we might head off to the Downs and see if we can see TW from there!

[Anke]

Thanks for your comment, John, I'm really glad you took the family out for an explore for some lovely fresh (make that cold) air.
I didn't get down to the lakes that day, I might have to this week instead, were they as pretty as last year or more overgrown?

[John Hayes Fisher]

A good suggestion. We took up your recomendation and took a bracing afternoon family walk down here last Sunday after seeing the photos. Starting at the lakes (which were still frozen)and ending up walking up the new steps and 'exploring' the caves which looked as though a new load of soot had recently been dumped there! Shame about the litter around the lakes ...but I guess thats no different from any public area in the 21st C.