Woolly says – What a busy few weeks, We’d arrived back in the wonderful Wye Valley and all things Glamping and enjoyed the first couple of days wandering along the river which looked full to bursting, for Alfie the Dog this proved to be a positive as it meant that he could stand on the bank and slurp away to his hearts content.

Jo took to oohing and arhing over the calves and saying hello to the four large bulls that the farm owns.

Our set up week started and we had planned to write a blog about that until I realised that the stupid human that I have to live with had managed to delete the photographs before saving them! But with bases down and furniture in it looked as though we might finish everything early, that was until the rain started and refused to stop. With the orchard turning from a green pasture to a mud zone it meant everything being carried by hand which started to slow the process down, even I had to carry things as if I were a pack mule, the indignity of it all.

With lashings of rain the set up continued and with the end in sight Jo left the quagmire to head into town for a new loo seat and some food shopping leaving me in charge of everything. Ten minutes later and a call came in telling us that she had been involved in a car accident. The wonderful Rich, owner of all thing’s glamping, raced to the scene of devastation, a very broken car and a shaken and bruised Jo who was shocked and angry that someone had crossed the white line on a bend and wrecked our vehicle. Several days of recovery followed along with the need to get a new car sorted and before we knew it easter and our first guests were arriving.

Settling into the routine of directing operations the humans changed tipis and beds and made sure everything was first rate under my eagle eye. With the schools open again we finally got to a day where we could do something else, and I had found just the thing.

The Mordiford Dragon Project had opened in May of last year and provided a trail through the countryside on the hunt for the legend of the Mordiford Dragon.

Having parked up at the nearby pub we found our first sighting of Maude and her dragon, the story goes ….

In a field in Mordiford, a lone green dragon egg lay in a pile of leaves one bright autumnal morning. A crack appeared, and a tiny dragon snout poked through. With emerald scales, that glistened golden in the warm sunlight, it began to emerge. With deep golden eyes it blinked in the daylight.  A young girl named Maude, was out picking berries one day when she heard what sounded like a cat’s meow. She stumbled across the dragon! Fearlessly, Maude scooped up the wide eyed dragon, who gratefully cuddled into her arms. Maude gave it milk, and fish from the river Lugg, and they played hide and seek together. As the dragon grew, so did Maude’s love for her friend. During the days, it would play in the woods, and drink and splash in local rivers. As it got bigger, so did its appetite. It’s claws and teeth had grown and it started to hunt local chickens and sheep. The locals began to notice. One day in the family dining room, the dragon hiccupped and to everyone’s surprise let out a jet of fire! Maude was astonished. After the smoke cleared, a scorched table with glowing embers was all that remained. Maude’s father ordered the dragon live outside. Maude set up a nest in the woods for her friend that was now as big as a large dog. Without Maude’s help, the dragon began to eat the easy pickings of the villager’s cattle and sheep. Leaving only the odd claw or scorch mark behind, the villagers weren’t happy. One night at a meeting they decided they wanted the dragon gone. Maude, cuddling her father, was in tears. Remembering their hide and seek days, the dragon evaded capture for months by hiding, with its green scales blending effortlessly into the woods, and its webbed feet muffling its now weighty footsteps. Even when the villagers did find the dragon, it was now fully grown, standing 12 feet tall and it would fly off when the villagers got too close. Eventually, the villagers hired a creative, mysterious, and daring man called Garstone, who was expert at dealing with dragon problems. He hid in a barrel by a stream where the dragon was known to drink. After days of waiting, the dragon landed to quench its thirst. Garstone launched out of the barrel and… the dragon was never seen by the villagers again. Garstone never revealed what happened.

…We set off along the main road to the bridge that crossed the river Lugg finding our first clue in the shape of a dragon footprint.

Following the public footpath, we wandered along the riverbank enjoying the sunshine as Barking Boy raced backwards and forwards in the long meadow grass. After twenty minutes or so my carer and I came to the conclusion that we must have missed a sign and took the only route open to us, going back on ourselves.

We arrived at the small Norman village church, the Church of the Holy Rood, which was sadly closed but had a large array of tombstones to admire.

Having walked through the churchyard we arrived at a road and there just out of sight was a sign for the trail, I raced round the corner and into the old mill.

Mordiford Mill had been built in the 1840s originally milling flour before changing to animal feed in the early parts of the 1900’s. During WWII it was adapted to be used by the home guard by adding gun firing slits in the third floor. Although the large mill wheel was still, we could hear the running water from the river flowing around it.

Finding our next sign, we headed into a large orchard which proved very exciting for Alfie the Dog as it was filled with sheep and lambs, with Jo gripping onto his lead we checked off another clue on the hunt and headed upwards to see the views from above.

Another dragon clue came into sight, and we paused to get our breathe before following the pathway past some old cottages and into a meadow with lots more sheep for Furry Paws to attempt to herd.

We arrived at a large barrel with Garstone the dragon catcher hiding inside which proved to be the last part of the trail leaving us to wander onwards through the slightly boggy field and back to the car.

Not the longest of walks but it had suited our needs for the day, and it was something that our guests might enjoy doing and we do like giving our guests as much local knowledge as possible, meanwhile I can get back to planning our next blogging day.