Savernake Forest
Between Great Bedwyn
and Marlborough
where the white chalk rises
lies Safernoc
spoken of since 934
under the dominion
of the king Athelstan.
Thirty-one generations
of sons and daughters
have served as
forest wardens and
for one thousand years
it has never been
bought or sold.
In this ancient woodland
secret landscapes
hide in the wilderness
nestled in coppices
between the oak
beech and hazel.
The guardians
leave the dead wood
standing or lying
and many of the
great trees are pollarded
until some measure
eleven metres in girth
and have lived
for one thousand years.
Unique in Europe
this venerable forest runs
from rough pasture
to the rabbit warrens
through the pinetum
and east to Hungerford where
in the spring
bluebells overspread
the flint-filled earth.
