AN EARLY LESSON.......

A couple of weeks ago, during the school half-term holiday, my eldest son went with his family for a short break and visited parts of Dorset, where I was born.

It`s a lovely part of the world - quiet, peaceful, steeped in history and the setting, of course, for most of the Thomas Hardy novels, one of my favourites being `The Return of the Native,` with its atmospheric description of the landscape and the people who lived there in that faraway time.

It`s funny how just a casual remark can bring back strong memories of things that happened years ago. My son just happened to mention that they had visited the area around Wool, Bovington and that part of Hardy`s Egdon Heath well known to Tess and Angel Clare, for it was at Wool (Wellbridge ) Manor that they spent their wedding night.

When I was very young - only about two or three - my father was away in the army playing his part in World War 2 and my mother and I lived on Portland. We used to visit friends who lived near Bovington - Giddy Green, I think the hamlet was called. I was literally finding my feet in the world and so my mother used to take me for walks onto the heathland, where even today there are still miles of unspoilt paths across the heather clad countryside.

One day, in the height of summer, we were walking along when, suddenly, my mother started to run away from me. Not just any old run, but really fast - faster than she ever ran before or after, I suspect. There was panic in the air - I could detect it in her sudden rush - and so I naturally followed as quickly as I could , for what seemed a long way but in reality was probably no more than a few yards. When I caught up with her, she picked me up, held me close and just breathed, "Snake" in my ear.

(Egdon Heath - click to enlarge)

From that day to this, I have inherited my mother`s absolute fear of snakes - small wonder, I suppose. I cannot even bear to watch snakes on tv or go into the reptile house at the zoo. Some years back, we took our grandaughters(my eldest son`s girls) to Howletts Zoo near Canterbury....and I remember insisting on staying outside while my wife took the girls into the reptile house there. If they inherit my dread of snakes, I hope they will understand where it all started, that sometimes discretion is truly the better part of valour and that it`s ok to run away now and again.