Wardens' Station

Weathered timber walls and a heavy beamed ceiling make the main room long, low and warm against the damp that drifts in from the forest. On the largest oak table lies a relief model of the woods, carved and covered in green felt, its tarn a chip of polished black glass. Off to one side an iron stove heats the drying room, where oilskins and coils of rope hang above boots upturned on pegs. A rescue sledge rests on trestles by the door with freshly waxed runners, and a rack of lanterns stands filled and ready beside it. Through a rear door, a ladder climbs steeply into the base of the fire-watch tower. Small deep-set windows let in a green, filtered light that falls across worn floorboards and the strip of red trim on every doorframe.