It’s suddenly springtime in the Forest, and we discovered a new place to enjoy a peaceful sunny afternoon in a rural setting, another gem in Greater Lydney. We have spent many afternoons at Lydney Harbour, enjoying the mighty Severn and all its varied moods from calm to angry. It is really a busy working harbour, not really rural, but it feels like it.

Our new recreational haven is in Tutnalls, an exotically named rural area of Lydney. ‘Tutnalls’ and nearby ‘Naas’ seem to be Lydney’s own landscape place names. There are ongoing frustrations in driving through the centre of the town, with an unrepaired bridge still causing frustration to drivers, but Tutnalls lake is a little gem which we have for some reason overlooked in our expeditions around the Forest.

From the town’s bus station you drive on until you run out of houses to pass by, and then end up by the lake, where there are ducks, geese, anglers, students from nearby Dean Academy returning from their studies, and visitors enjoying the early spring sunshine. One of the network of canals alongside the River Lyd ran through this area. They were developed in the 19th century for the barges which connected Forest coal mines to Lydney Docks for export.

There are links through to St Mary’s church as well as to the Dean Academy, and the new Lydney by-pass runs to the south of the area. Trains from the Dean Forest Railway can sometimes be heard, but the acoustics of the area prevent traffic noises from the adjoining Lydney by-pass from disturbing the rural tranquillity of the park.

The area covers the outlying reserve ground for Lydney rugby club, where training takes place and some matches are played. I have a bitter memory of the match I played for Bream against Lydney Second XV many years ago. Playing outside half, I scored a drop goal, one of the rare occasions when I made one of these unusual ways of scoring in the game, but the referee claimed to be unsighted and disallowed it. The bitter sense of injustice stayed with me for many years, especially as awarding us the goal would have turned a narrow defeat into a victory.

But the site really does need an ice cream van (and a decent ref).