Wenlock's Wood. The road to faerie

[cmcmck]

Most of the ancient forest we have here in north Shropshire is oak woodland with birch and rowan on the higher hills.

I grew up in the southeastern county of Kent where, being downland, a lot of the woodland is chestnut and chestnut woodland provides the finest displays of bluebells anywhere in England.

Locally, we have the chestnut woodland known as Wenlock's Wood and this year's bloom has been magical!































I'm only sorry I can't share the scent with you!

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

My goodness, this is magical.

[cmcmck]

It really is and given your blogname I can see you might appreciate it :o)

[semielliptical]

So beautiful! The blue and green are so pleasing together.

[cmcmck]

They really are!

[davidgillon]

I live in Chatham, so Kent's Bluebell Hill is about five miles down the road towards Maidstone. I noticed while I was out in the car the other day that the bluebells are busy colonising the verges around the major roundabout at the edge of Chatham when headed up the Maidstone road.

[cmcmck]

Small world! :o)

I was born and grew up in Rochester so know that area extremely well. We lived in Gillinghsm until five years ago when we moved up to Shropshire Bluebell Hill is a great spot for them as is Robin Hood Woods and the woodland running down to Burham and Wouldham in behind.

[davidgillon]

In which case you'll know what I mean by the Lordswood Lane/Chatham Maidstone Road roundabout by Asda. The verges have always been a bit hit and miss there, but there was a good covering of bluebells there when I was stopped at the lights last week. It's not too far from the woodland that runs alongside Lordswood Lane, but far enough that you wouldn't necessarily expect them to spread to the Chatham side.

[cmcmck]

I know where you mean!

[pameladean]

Oh, wow. I've deliberately gone to see bluebell woods when I was lucky enough to visit the UK at the right time of year; and I have been endlessly and permanently enchanted. But at the time, my interest was basically literary, and I didn't think about what kinds of trees the bluebells lived amongst. To find out that they are chestnuts, now that I know a little about trees and phenology generally, is amazing.

P.

[cmcmck]

They do well enough among other trees as well, but chestnuts have a more open canopy than some so more light gets in.

[readera]

Wow that's amazing!

[cmcmck]

It's always a fine display.

[shirebound]

this year's bloom has been magical!

It is!!!!!!!!!!

[cmcmck]

Totally!

[darkcedars]

Lovely! Thanks!

[cmcmck]

Y're welcome! :o)

[blueswan]

How beautiful! Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures.

[cmcmck]

I'm glad you enjoyed!

[minoanmiss]

Oh so lovely!

[cmcmck]

It's a nice spot at any time, but especially now.

[satsuma]

oh those photos are lovely! definitely a magical place

[cmcmck]

Absolutely!

[elainegrey]

That is a glorious display! I've never seen anything like that in eastern US forests (because they were all cut down and plowed under) but i've learned about Virginia bluebells, which are in the same family as borage.

Are your bluebells spring ephemerals -- the whole plant dies back once the tree canopy comes in? -- or do the leaves persist all year? And are they in the lily family?

[cmcmck]

They do die right back. They are hyacynthoids so spend their Winter months underground as bulbs. The ferns will come next in succession and they'll die back at the end of Summer.

[allekha]

It's so pretty! I'd love to take a walk there. Thanks for sharing!

[cmcmck]

It does make a nice walk and eventually leads down to a farm and some meadowland.

[pensnest]

The purple misting of bluebells is *so* pretty. These woods are lovely.

[cmcmck]

There's also a lot of wild garlic in there which you smell long before you see! :o)

[yourlibrarian]

What beautiful purple vistas!

[cmcmck]

It's such a lovely spot.

[turlough]

It's so pretty you can hardly believe it's real! Absolutely fantastical.

[cmcmck]

Always magical when the bluebells are in bloom!

[futurism]

Oh how lovely, nature at its most pretty and quiet! With so many flowers the scent is quite easy to picture too :)

[cmcmck]

You're well off the nearest lane there so it really is quiet! :o)