Interview with Aiden and Mina, 10 & 8 years old

Where do you usually go when you go to play in the Battlehill Woods?

A.: We go deep into the woods and on the paths as well. We play Harry Potter.
M.: We usethe characters but we make up our own game with them.

Do you build things in the woods?

M.: We just pick up sticks and pretend they are wands and we start playing.

Do you build houses with the sticks?

A.: We use the fallen down trees as little houses. But we have made tents before.

What kind of tricks do you play when you pretend do be Harry Potter?

M: There is "Stupify“, "Avadra Kedavra“, "Imperiocus“. "Avadra Kedavra“ kills you, that´s the worst one. "Stupify“ makes you go mad. Imperio means that the person who sets the wand on you takes control. With "Wingardium Leviosa“ you can lift things up. With "Explleraomus“ the person you have said it to will fall back.

Do you have favourite places in the Woods?

A.: Mina has got a tree, it has got her name on it. It´s a big tree.
M.: It´s thick and quite long. It has got big bushy branches and it has got my name carved in it and the date.

Did you carve it in?

M.: No, we found it like that.
There is also the leaf pit, there is the little hill thing, you climb it up and you just jump into the leaves. That´s fun.

Have you seen any animals in the woods?

A.: We have seen birds.
M.: And squirrels. But you more hear things than you actually see them. We once saw a dear and it was just in the distance and we were just like, "It´s a dear!“

What kind of sounds do you remember?

M.: Birds and the leaves crackling together when there is wind. Sometimes you hear owls, like “dwodwo dwodwo.“
A.: There are pigeons.
M.: Sometimes there are woodpeckers.
A.: Mostly it´s songbirds. The ones that squark and tweet and squark.

Do you remember any smells?

A.: Usually moss.
M.: A kind of moisture smell.

Do you collect any stuff when you go there?

A.: Sticks. I have hundreds. When I used to be a kid I used to use them as swords.

Do you find it more a light and happy place or do you think its spooky?

A.: I used to think it was spooky when the trees were sounding like “krchkrchh“.
M.: There must have been a battle there, because why would it be called Battlehill Woods?
A.: I think it was the Jacobites. Most likely.
M.: Or even some fighting of the land.

Who are the Jacobites?

A.: Well the English had the throne but the Culloden was Scottish really, so they were trying to take it and lost. They almost had it but then decided to go back. Bad move. They could actually have took it at London but then they decided to go back and got slaughtered and never became the rightful heir.
M.: There is a nice song called "The Jacobite“.
(Mina sings the song)
When we first walked up there I was so small that we had to stop. There are these little benches and mom would have to tell us a story and then we would carry on.
A.: She did it about these dancing trees and the witch tree.
M.: The witch tree is a tree that looks like a witch in Battlehill.
A.: It has got a nobbly nose.
M.: There is this green patch and if you stand back you see this big huge tree. It has got a lot of sticks everyhere.
A.: There is also the wishing stone.
M.: When you are coming back you see that big stone in the pathway. We always make a wish and then we carry on.

If you were to choose a fairy tale in the Battlehill Woods, what would you choose?

M.: The dancing trees. And there is the witch trees. And there is a sort of a little barrior.
A.: The witch turns people into trees and she disguises herself as that tree that people call the spooky tree.

What are the dancing trees?

M.: They have got moss at the bottoms which looks like skirts so you go, "The dancing trees!“