Doug - The Keeper

Doug saved a derelict Dode from conversion to a house in the 1990’s and since then has worked tirelessly to breath life back into this important piece of history. Inspiring countless devotees along the way, he has a special gift for attracting people to Dode who wish to preserve its legacy and revitalise interest in this most special of places.

Some six miles upstream of Stratford, the river Avon runs sinuously through enchanted parkland that has little changed since Shakespeare’s time and passes a little village with the pretty name of Hampton Lucy, it’s slow journey and dark mysterious pools hold the light. It was here that his mother grew up, she named him Douglas a Gaelic name which means ‘dark river’ in a ceremony on its very banks in June of 1944.

“She instilled in me a deep love of the countryside & it’s ways. In later life she encouraged me and helped make it possible to become Dode’s Keeper, I owe my Animistic beliefs to her, debts which I will never be able to repay other than to keep the spirit of Dode alive and in the hearts of so many.

The beautiful nature-based ceremonies of Handfasting over which I have presided for many years now in our circle of stones at Dode perfectly encapsulate my spiritual beliefs and I know would make my mother proud.”