"Fresh" Forest of Dean.

[Carol]

zanooda:
> > Guys, please tell me what the word "fresh" means in a sentence
like that: "'Where are we?' he asked, peering around at a fresh mass
of trees ...". It's right after Harry and Hermione Apparated to the
Forest of Dean (ch.19, "The Silver Doe", p.364 Am.ed.). Does it mean
something like "new", "another", or is it some characteristic of the
trees, like "green" (in winter??) or whatever else. I would appreciate
any advice :-).

Carol responds:

Maybe JKR was thinking, consciously or unconsciously, of Milton's
"Lycidas," which ends with the famous line, "Tomorrow to fresh woods,
and pastures new."

So, yes, "fresh" in the context you've given almost certainly means a
new group of trees, or, rather, a group of trees in a "fresh" (new)
forest that they haven't seen before. The Forest of Dean must be
recognizably different from their unnamed previous location. Maybe
Geoff can tell us its distinctive characteristics.

Carol, who always sees familiar passages with fresh eyes after
zanooda's posts