Bluebell Woods at Nuffield Place

I know I keep posting photos of Bluebell woods  each year but that is because they simply take my breath away.  This year's find is this lovely wood next to Nuffield Place near Nettlebed, Oxfordshire. 

How to get there:  https://goo.gl/maps/7Gboe

While you are there be sure to visit Lord Nuffield's home (Lord Nuffield is William Morris who started the automobile industry in the U.K. and was a great philanthropist).  His home is a National Trust home and it is one of my favorites.  

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nuffield-place/visitor-information/

Another blog about these woods:  http://babyroutes.co.uk/easter-bluebells/

 The yellow in the background is a field of rapeseed -- another springtime scene that takes my breath away.

My exploring partners and dear friends:  Kathy, Kari, Katie, and me ... an honorary K for the day.

The BlueBell Wood by Felix Dennis

We walked within an ancient wood
Beside the Heart-of-England way
Where oak and beech and hazel stood,
Their leaves the pale shades of May.

By bole and bough, still black with rain,
The sunlight filtered where it would
Across a glowing, radiant stain—
We stood within a bluebell wood!

And stood and stood, both lost for words,
As all around the woodland rang
And echoed with the cries of birds
Who sang and sang and sang and sang…

My mind has marked that afternoon
To hoard against life’s stone and sling;
Should I go late, or I go soon,
The bluebells glow— the birds still sing.

Kew Gardens in the Spring

I finally had a chance to visit Kew Gardens and see it in it's spring glory.  Kew Gardens is a spectacular garden about 10 miles upriver from London.   It is also the world's largest collection of living plants. Founded in 1840 from the exotic garden at Kew Park its living collections include more than 30,000 different kinds of plants and the herbarium has over seven million preserved plant specimens. In other words, it is big, beautiful and very impressive.

It is one of London's top tourist attractions, and as of 2003, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

I spent the day at Kew with dear friends Cindy and Dave, visiting from Minnesota,  USA

The history of these gardens go back as far as 1299 when Edward I moved his court to a manor house in nearby Richmond. Henry V built Sheen Palace in 1501, which, under the name Richmond Palace, became a permanent royal residence for Henry VII. 

The Great Pagoda was designed by Sir William Cambers erected in 1762. It has 10 levels and from the base to the highest point is 163 feet (50 m).

The Queen's Beasts are ten statues of animals bearing shields standing in front of the Palm House.

The tulips where in full bloom and simply stunning!  

The Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and iron-maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848. It was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron  and is considered "the world's most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure."  The structure's panes of glass are all hand-blown.

There are two spiral staircases inside that lead to a walkway where you can look down from the canopy of the palm trees and tropical trees.  

Kew Gardens has its own police force,  Kew Constabulary, which has been in operation since 1847.

The treetop walkway opened in 2008.  It is 59 feet high (18 m) and 200  660 feet long (200 m) and allows visitors to walk among the tree canopy of the woodland glade.   

The cherry trees were magnificent in full bloom!

Special plaster casts were made of this tree so it could be reproduced as the "Whomping Willow" in the Harry Potter movies.  

 The Azaleas and Rhododendrons where just starting to bloom.

For more information on Kew Gardens:  

http://www.kew.org/

http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/58711-royal-botanic-gardens-kew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kew_Gardens