Meet the Maker behind Midwinter Hollow
I have been hiding for far too long. Hello! I'm Michelle, nice to meet you! I am half goth, half colour lover. I refer to myself as a rainbow goth as I love using black to accentuate bright colours, especially my red hair which has become a big part of my identity.
Outside of making jewellery my interests include roller skating, dogs, roller derby, amateur dramatics, dogs, role playing games, succulents, gardening, fantasy fiction, and did I mention dogs?
This is me sat upon The Iron Throne last year, and represents my love for fantasy fiction. My favourites include The Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb, The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson and of course Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.
The production company behind the TV version of Game of Thrones placed six Iron Thrones all over the world and I was lucky enough to find one less than 10 miles from my house in the Forest of Dean! Around lunchtime I heard there may have been one placed in the absolutely amazing setting of Puzzlewood. I finished my work for the day and patiently waited for my daughter to finish school so we could hop in the car. I told my daughter "We are going on an adventure to find a throne!" She was very excited as we got in the car and drove the 15 minutes through the winding roads of the Forest.
We rolled up to Puzzlewood, there were only a few cars in the carpark as it was getting towards the end of the day. There was no queue at all and and as I excitedly got my purse out the lady on the door said "Why have you come today?". "To find the Iron Throne" I replied. "You both get in free in that case" What a bonus! We ran around the amazing ancient woodland in search of the elusive throne, it must be around here somewhere! It took us an hour as we went straight past it in the first 10 minutes but on the second walk around we spotted a man in a full fur cape - it was a member of The Night's Watch! He let us through a gate and we followed a secret pathway around and down a hill and there it was in all it's glory. "Wow" my daughter exclaimed as we ran towards it. A couple were walking away from it as we were walking towards it and guarding the throne was none other than Jon Snow! (well, someone in an awesome costume). We took our obligatory photos, sat in silly poses with legs draped over the side - "The Joffrey", we chatted with Jon Snow who wasn't allowed to smile in any of the photos - he is a member of the Night's Watch after all...
My daughter loved it, I loved it, it was a great experience. As word got out, the next day there was a 2 hour queue to get into Puzzlewood, and then a further 4 hour queue to get down to the Throne itself! We felt very lucky (smug) to have been some of the first people to find it and to stroll right in.
My daughter loved it, I probably loved it even more and I got to imagine myself as the Protector of the Realm for 10 minutes.
If you ever want to visit the Forest of Dean a trip to Puzzlewood is a must! It is a glorious ancient woodland that has been used in TV & film including Merlin, Star Wars and Dr Who! It is simply magical.