Items14The creator’s order
  1. 1AshridgeAshridgeDockey Wood on the Ashridge Estate, Hertfordshire The National Trust calls Dockey Wood the best place for bluebells on Ashridge, and on a good day the carpet runs unbroken under the trees. Flowering starts in mid-April and usually peaks in late April and early May. Its popularity brings rules: on…0
  2. 2Forest of DeanForest of DeanThe Forest of Dean is a whole forest of bluebell walks rather than one famous wood, and that is its strength. Pick the stretch around Beechenhurst for a picnic among the flowers, Cannop Ponds for bluebells along the water's edge, Speech House Woodland and the Cyril Hart Arboretum beside it, or the…0
  3. 3Hardcastle CragsHardcastle CragsHardcastle Crags gives the north a bluebell walk with character: 400 acres of South Pennine woodland in a valley near Hebden Bridge, with Gibson Mill, a cotton mill built around 1800, at its heart. The riverside path holds the best of the bluebells, and wild garlic flowers in the same season, so…0
  4. 4Bolton Abbey (village)Bolton Abbey (village)Strid Wood on the Bolton Abbey estate, Yorkshire Dales Strid Wood holds one of the largest remnants of sessile oak in the Yorkshire Dales, and its spring runs in two acts: bluebells in late April and early May, then wild garlic in bloom straight after, so a late visit still smells wonderful. The…0
  5. 5West WoodsWest WoodsWest Woods, an ancient woodland just south of Marlborough in Wiltshire, is carpeted with bluebells in late spring. It carries a story too: research has linked the wood to 50 of the 52 sarsen stones at Stonehenge, so the paths run over the source of Britain's most famous monument. Forestry England…0
  6. 6Micheldever WoodMicheldever WoodMicheldever Wood is the easy-going choice of the list: a mainly beech wood about five miles from Winchester, where bluebells spread beneath the smooth gray trunks. It has two waymarked trails, one of them stroller-friendly, so it suits a family morning or a short walk with small children. Forestry…0
  7. 7Arlington Bluebell Walk and Farm TrailArlington Bluebell Walk and Farm TrailArlington is the bluebell walk built for everyone. Bates Green Farm, near Polegate in East Sussex, has opened its woods each spring since 1972 for charity, and the heart of it is Beatons Wood, an ancient oak and hornbeam wood where white wood anemones come first and bluebells follow. The circular…0
  8. 8Badbury HillBadbury HillBadbury Clump on Badbury Hill, Oxfordshire Badbury Clump puts its bluebells inside an Iron Age hillfort dating from around 600 BC, where beech trees now grow over the old earthworks and the flowers fill the ground between them. It is a short walk rather than a long one, but benches along the…0
  9. 9Blickling HallBlickling HallThe Great Wood on the Blickling Estate, Norfolk The Great Wood gives East Anglia a big-sky bluebell walk: a large carpet of flowers among tall trees, with a path running right through it. Rangers and volunteers now rope alongside the main walkways, which has improved the health of the flowers and…0
  10. 10Wayland WoodWayland WoodWayland Wood is for walkers who want more than blue. This quiet Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve near Watton has been coppiced since at least the 10th century, and its spring flora proves its age: bluebells grow with wood anemones, yellow archangel, water avens and early purple orchids, plus the rare…0