Rayner’s Avenue is a very popular location for dog walking, as it is a very heavily wooded area with lots of space for dogs to roam free happily. But the last thing local dog walkers expected to come across was a Lady, thought to be in her 40’s or 50’s camping in an area of the woodland, she recently purchased to build an eco-friendly house on.
The lady is reported to be sleeping in a tent temporarily until her new house is built. A number of residents have taken some time to help the lady by collecting wood for fire and have spoken to her on a number of occasions. This suggests that the lady is harmless and isn’t doing anything wrong.

However, a number of other local residents are still shocked that she is living there, due to winter coming soon. When going out to ask some people what they thought. I asked a Dad of three, who does not wish to be named, what he thought about the matter, to which he replied. “I don’t like it one little bit, I have three children and I want them to feel safe and secure in their own home, and knowing about this lady, they can’t. I now refuse to walk my dog through the woods, just in case she strays over to her.”

Despite this negative outlook on the matter, another Local resident, Paula Fleming commented saying “I can see why people aren’t happy that she is staying in the woods, but until she does something that affects other people badly, I don’t think that it’s a problem at all. I understand that she brought a patch of land to build a house, which I see as a good thing personally, as it is helping the environment, and I also think that it’s a nice thing that a number of local residents are helping to keep her warm and safe by collecting fire wood for her” She then went on to add “I know at least 2 people that have seen and spoken to her and have said she is completely fine, which is very reassuring.”

As well as local residents’ opinions on the matter, I’ve been thinking about the situation from a personal point of view, I mean is it really that safe for the woman to be out freely in complete darkness in the middle of the night. As Local teenagers could potentially find amusement in tormenting the lady, due to lack of activities to do around the area… In addition to this, Dog walking is another thing. Would you really feel safe walking your dog through a woods, where you know somebody is living? And will it put people from outside the area off from coming up to the woodland because of this?

However, living near the woodland myself, although being a bit shocked at first, I don’t see a problem in the lady being there as long she doesn’t disturb any residents and is respectful of the environment around her.