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.

[semielliptical]

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

[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.

[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.

[readera]

Wow that's amazing!

[shirebound]

this year's bloom has been magical!

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

[darkcedars]

Lovely! Thanks!

[blueswan]

How beautiful! Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures.

[minoanmiss]

Oh so lovely!

[satsuma]

oh those photos are lovely! definitely a magical place

[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?

[allekha]

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

[pensnest]

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

[yourlibrarian]

What beautiful purple vistas!

[turlough]

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

[futurism]

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