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Bluebell Bank Holiday 2005
A bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) from Kew Gardens - www.rbgkew.org.uk The relaxing days of ‘Wine and Roses’ are not yet with us, but the burgeoning Spring flowers can provide us with a helpful de-stressing tool that salves the senses with optical tranquillity to soothe the mind and a subtle hyacinth-like scent that does the heart good when a ‘cool’ panorama of our wild native Bluebells come into view. Bluebells create a carpet of colour that rolls out over woodland ground-floors all over Britain. When the beauty of the bluebell meets the eye, we know that spring is truly here. Shake the inner-City dirt from your shoes and take off on the Bluebell trail. To celebrate the event, The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, Surrey, UK, are holding a May Bank Holiday Festival (30th April – 2nd May) called ‘Woodland Wonders’. “ … tucked away in the secluded grounds of Queen Charlotte’s Cottage you will discover a host of exhibitions and activities for all ages, whatever the weather!”, including the entertainment of the traditional spectacle of Morris and Maypole dancing.1 You would be hard put to miss the Bluebells; there’s 40 acres of woodland area at Kew. On a more serious note, our native Bluebells are so precious that Kew has mustered and organized 300 volunteers to help them dig up the yellow-flowered Perfoliate Alexanders, which experts say is an invasive plant that must be brought under control because it deprives bluebells of their light source.2 This one-day project will take place on 22nd May and is part of Environment Month and Year of the Volunteer. It may not be quite warm enough to go ‘mucking about on the river’, but check out the weather and if it is set-fair why not emulate our earlier Elizabethan counterparts and travel down the Thames by river launch from Westminster to Kew.3 The launch calls at Kew pier on its way to neighbouring Royal Hampton Court Palace. This is a good bluebell family outing suitable for all ages and it really is a ‘joy ride’.
Bluebells around Queen Charlotte’s Cottage Kew Royal Botanical Gardens BBC News Online – 14th April 2005 For another good family outing, especially if you have a Steam-engine enthusiast in the family, within easy reach of Kent, Surry and Hampshire in the vicinity of Hayward’s Heath, West Sussex, is an area of great natural beauty where the Bluebell Railway operates between Sheffield Park and Kingscote. A ride that is particularly beautiful in the Bluebell season.4 The Bluebell Railway also has another claim to fame; in October 1999 it became a film set for the TV film of Edith Nesbit’s classic “The Railway Children”.5
However, for those who prefer romantic bluebell walks in woodlands there are other places to choose from6 such as ‘Hatchlands Park’, an 18th-centry mansion with Adam interiors and collection of keyboard instruments, set in parkland. Not forgetting that the Bluebells are early this year, this venue reportedly has a stunning bluebell wood in May.7 If you or your family are wildlife enthusiasts, why not take a trip to Skomer Island, which is a 15 minutes boat ride from the Pembrokeshire coast. This beautiful 750-acre island offers a wide choice of wildlife experiences: It has the largest colony of breeding seabirds in southern Britain. Porpoises and dolphins make daily appearances off Skomer Head. “During the spring there are amazing wide expanses of bluebells in bloom, turning the whole island into a mass of colour – the island of the three blues, the sky, the sea and the bluebells!” You may wish to spend an ‘away’ weekend and go to one of the locations where caravans have rested down in Devon e.g. ‘Woodland Springs Touring Park’, which is situated on the northern edge of Dartmoor. This site keeps a Wildlife Report and contains a variety of habitats including a stream, wetland and wild flower areas. It also has a small ancient woodland which sports a riot of Bluebells in the late spring. Or you may prefer to take to the road and put down where you fancy and get onto your very own Bluebell trail. Whatever you do to lift your spirits, do not miss that wonderful blue haze that is created by rifts of Bluebells in our woodlands this Bank Holiday weekend.
References: 1. http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ and http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/events/woodlandwonders/index.html 2. ‘Green Army to Halt Weed Invasion’ BBC News Online 14.4.2005: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4444531.stm 3. http://www.londontoolkit.com/whattodo/hampton_court_gettingthere.htm 4. http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/contact.html 5. http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/railwaychildren.html 6. (See www.plantlife.org.uk for Woods, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Pembrokeshire, Scotland and Ulster) 7. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ 8. http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/wtsww/skomer_island.htm 9. http://www.woodlandsprings.co.uk/report.htm 10. http://www.woodlandsprings.co.uk/report.htm
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