Montague Mouse

High Hall Nursery & Woodland Walk, High Hall Wood, Westward, Wigton, Cumbria, CA7 8NQ, United Kingdom. (GPS Lat/Lon: 54.7825/-3.1367) (map) (contact) (photos) (brochure) (e-cards)

• OPEN:    10am - 4pm    Fri, Sat, & Sun    11th April - 12th October, 2008
• The Woodland Postal Service - see below for details
• Find the Woodland Houses Competition - free entry

About Montague Mouse

The woodland surrounding the Nursery is home to the Woodland Folk; Montague Mouse, Sebastian Shrew, Maudie Mole and many others. Their little houses nestle at the foot of moss-covered trees and in old stumps. One of the Woodland Folk, Willie Water Vole, even lives in the river bank, and nearby you can often see his sailing boat moored. 

The Woodland Postal Service (Price: 75 pence*)

Would you like to send a letter to one of the Woodland Folk ? They'd like to hear from you! Crispin Snail can deliver it... and then you will receive a letter back.

Please purchase your writing paper and envelope at the Gardener's Shed on the Plant Nursery Sales Area. Don't forget to write your name, address and age at the bottom of the letter. Then pop it in the letter box on the front of the Gardener's Shed.

* 5 pence from the price goes to a children's charity - POD.

Find the Woodland Houses Competition - free entry

Montague Mouse lives in the woodland along with lots of his friends - all of them have their own little house - sometimes at the foot of a mossy tree or in an old tree trunk - sometimes higher up! As you walk around the Woodland Walk you should keep a look out for them!

Pick up an entry form from the Gardener's Shed on the Plant Nursery Sales Area and write down the name of who each house belongs to on your form and then put it in the box marked 'Competition', located at the entrance of the Plant Nursery. Entry is free.

The first 3 correct entries will win a Mouse Door and a goody bag. Winners will be announced at the end of the season (mid-October).

Good luck!

Homes of the Woodland Folk

A selection of photographs of some of the homes of the Woodland Folk are available, free-of-charge, for use as your desktop background image. Please click on a mini-photograph, below, to display your selected image in a new browser window. Using Internet Explorer, right-click on the image and then select 'Set as Background' to set the image as your desktop background or select 'Save Picture As' to save the image onto your computer.

The House of Montague Mouse Esq. ©

The adventures of Montague Mouse will be published soon. Until then, some small extracts from the five tales of 'The House of Montague Mouse Esq.' have been provided so that you can get to know Montague and his many woodland friends.

Extract from the First Tale

It was early one Sunday morning in late Summer and I was working in the garden – I stopped and listened – I could hear grunts – very faint, but definitely grunts. You can imagine my surprise when I saw a mushroom coming towards me along the path wearing wellington boots!

I watched as it tottered from side to side before losing balance completely - the mushroom went one way and the boots the other.

The boots actually belonged to a mouse who was looking very flustered and quite out of breath (hardly surprising since the mushroom was twice the size he was). He was dressed in a pair of rusty-coloured dungarees, a blue and white striped shirt, green neckerchief and a faded black jacket.

“Oh Twiddlesticks” he said as he dusted off his dungarees...........

..............he opened a tiny door – “this is my store cupboard” – I knelt down and peered in............

there were leaves, berries and acorns – “acorns??!!*? do mice like acorns?”

..................pushed the mushroom in, it was a bit of a squeeze to say the least and Montague struggled to get the door to shut.

“Well, must get on, much to do, much to do – thank you once again for carrying my mushroom – I shall look forward to meeting you again – goodbye”.

“Goodbye Montague".

As I walked back through the woodland I thought had this really happened or was it a strange dream, had I really held a conversation with a mouse?

Extract from the Third Tale

Montague awoke early: today was a most important day – his and Matilda’s wedding! He was feeling a little nervous as he got into his smart clothes ............

.....They took up position, Sylvester Snail raised his baton and the music started – ‘Here comes the bride …………..’ Montague turned – well he could hardly believe his eyes – Matilda looked just beautiful, great great great great grandmama’s dress looked as if it had been handmade for Matilda, it fitted so perfectly.......

..........The boat was decked out with blue forget-me-nots and white daisies, and there were two little blue cushions to sit on. Willie Water Vole was there at the oars looking every inch a Sea Captain..........“Where did you get the cap? asked Matilda, giving a little giggle - it was a bit small. “Oh I found it – fitted ok until I washed it – bit tight now” Willie replied. They settled themselves in the boat and Willie pushed the boat away............

…… Ellie had given up the idea of being a pretty little bunny and was sitting astride a log stuffing her face with berries, foot thumping in time to the music while Finnian and Jasper, unbeknown to her, were dangling a spider above her head! Ellie hated spiders. McTavish the Squirrel who was passing, stopped “Well lads and what d’yer think you be doing? “Nothing Sir, just helping this spider down from the tree – didn’t want it to break a leg” they said..........

.............................Morag was making her way across to them. “Hello” she called “It’s a real fine day isn’t it – everyone’s having such fun, you should see Tomas Toad he’s giving water rides to the little ones, I think the entire School of Music is queuing up for them – he’s enlisting the help of Fergus and Freya Frog. Maudie says it’s been ages since we’ve had a day like this – the last time was, oh now, when did she say?……Oh I know, it was her niece’s friend’s Auntie’s birthday party and ………”  “Och hush will ye Morag, - nobody can get a word in”.

“Sorry McTavish, sorry Barty & Benjamin, you know what I’m like once I get going, my mother was exactly the same, chatter, chatter, chatter..........Morag chattered on … and on … and on - Barty and Benjamin just gave McTavish a wink and quietly slipped away back to the pond..........