Puzzlewood - A truly Magical place

                      

A magical place that exist in the planet, that could be, the Puzzlewood. Well, basically Puzzlewood is an ancient woodland site in the Forest of Dean in England which is now a tourist attraction. It includes ancient trees and a confusing maze of paths. This place is so magical that you would think there are elves, wizards and hobbits there. When it comes to geology Puzzlewood is full of scowles which has developed over million years ago. These are deep irregular quarry-like features to amorphous hollow shallows. Then humans from the Iron Age and Roman periods mined the iron from the revealed rock faces. Puzzlewood is also a home to a wide variety of trees namely Oak, Beech, Ash, Lime and Yew can all be found in the wood. After Romans left, the area was abandoned, and nature took over, with moss and trees growing throughout. Way back in the early 19th century, the owner laid down a mile of pathways which meandered through the trees and gullies to open up this ancient forest, for the amusement of his friends and children. Then later on, in the early 20th century, Puzzlewood has been opened to the public with an honesty or donation box at the gate for the benefit of the Local church. Since then, it has attracted thousands of visitors each year. Nearby is the Site of Scientific Interest of Old Bow and Old Ham Miines which is home to protected colonies of Greater horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and the Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophonus hipposideros). They can often be seen hunting at dusk.

Puzzlewood has inspired many writers to be a part of their idea and has this woodland has been very popular for magical sceneries in filming

J.R.R Tolkien has used this woodland as an inspiration for the fabled-forest of Middle Earth such as the Old Forest, Mirkwood, Fangorn or Lothlorien contained within the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien is the only one who called it “Middle Earth”.

J.K Rowling was also been influenced this woodland in her idea of The Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter Books.

 Puzzlewood has also been used as a filming location for the episodes of BBC TV Show Merlin, “The Labyrinth of Gedref” and “The Nightmare Begins”. Some of the chase scenes towards the end of the episode seem to have been filmed in the areas of Puzzlewood that are made for public. But I guess that much of the rest of the episode like where Merlin sets a fire, and the actual location of the Druids’ camp or village is nearby. There is more woodland in that area than tourist generally get to see,though I am sure we are seeing lots of the most interesting and accessible sites.

You can also see Puzzlewood in the filming of “Jack The Giant Killer”. This is the first time that the ancient woodland and scowles have been used for an International film which is scheduled for release on March 2013

Some scenes in Dr. Who - Flesh and Stone show the Puzzlewood as the ‘oxygen factory’ of the space ship Byzantium during nine rainy nights in July ’09 where the woodland looks really fantastic