I have a secret place that I call my Enchanted Forest. My mom showed it to me when I was very young. We often went there to collect acorns and sit on a bent tree whose roots reached into a small river.
We called it Enchanted because of its lush greenery and the amazing stories we would create while wandering its winding paths.
Our forest is not far from my summer cottage, where I loved spending my summer vacations. To get there, you have to pass through an oat field. But it’s not always easy to do quickly: it’s hard to resist the fragrant wildflowers and not pick a bouquet.
And as soon as you escape the scorching sun into the young foliage, it’s as if someone taps you with a magic wand, and one fantasy after another rushes through your head.
Any moment now, a shy doe will strike its golden hoof, and an old grandmother, hurrying somewhere with a basket of mushrooms, will seem like a kind enchantress. All the way through, you can’t shake the feeling that someone magical is watching you, silently reminding you that you’re just a guest in this forest. But the forest’s owner is hospitable, inviting you in with many curly paths.
It’s always easy to breathe here, with lots of ferns and deep ravines. In this small thicket, the roots of ancient oaks are exposed, making it seem as if these trees are suspended in the air.
And the scents here are incredible! With the onset of summer, the forest is filled with the blooming of wild mustard, a scent that you can recognize among thousands of others.
And the small river running along the edge of the forest is overgrown with white lilies and water lilies. Their leaves spread out like a green carpet on the water’s surface, and the flowers themselves sparkle with silvery specks, like tiny stars. If you’re lucky, you can catch the growth of loosestrife spreading along the banks of this wonderful little river.
These thickets are more like a fairy tale! It’s incredibly difficult to understand how nature manages to create something so beautiful from a simple marshy river that no one has visited for a long time.
I love these places, I love coming here on a hot summer day, and in winter, I return here in my dreams. I’ve been dreaming about these places since childhood, and no matter how much I travel, I will always be happy to return to my Enchanted Forest once more.
Read my other inspiring aesthetic posts – Japanese garden inspiration and The world through a lens.
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