Calke Abbey in search of Bluebells

Saturday 23rd April 2016

The week before this walk, after doing section five of the Ivanhoe Way, I came across an astonishing display of bluebells in White Horse Wood, near Shepshed, and this fired my enthusiasm for the delightful woodland flower. A woodland floor covered in these small blue flowers is almost a uniquely British phenomenon and one that must be treasured in the ancient woods that contain this fabulous display. A search on the internet revealed that one of the best displays of bluebells in Britain is at Calke Abbey, which is a National Trust property less than a mile from the Leicestershire county border. I had passed through Calke Abbey the year before while doing what I later considered to be the best stage of the National Forest Way. When I tried to think of a walk that I could do encompassing Calke Abbey, I couldn’t think of a better walk to do than the one that I had done the year before, but this time in the opposite direction as it’s astonishing how different a walk can seem on the way back. That was why I abandoned my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way and made my way past Ashby-de-la-Zouch to the lovely village of Smisby again. The walk started very early in the morning as I headed north along the gloriously bejewelled Forties Lane through a deep cutting whose banks were covered in celandines and speckled with bluebells, though this delight was just a foretaste of the wildflowers that I would later encounter of this walk.

Rather than following the route of the National Forest Way out of Smisby, as I had previously, I headed towards Daniel Hayes Wood on the original route that I had planned to take at the end the walk the year before. Leaving the road I headed through typical National Forest woodland, i.e. young, with the sun slowly rising above the horizon as I made my way to Daniel Hayes Farm where after a little confusion I turned right onto the road even though I’d wanted to go through the farm into Daniel Hayes Wood. When I realised my mistake, rather than retrace my steps, I decided to change my route so I now headed along a bridlepath beside the edge of the wood on a path that was lined with many wildflowers although there were none in the young wood. I was delighted by my unintended diversion and this continued into The Oaklands and Smith’s Gorse, which also had a few bluebells. Leaving the woods I made my way over to Foremark Reservoir where I joined up with the National Forest Way and retraced my steps of the year before under cloudless skies through the constructed paths beside the reservoir.

When I reached the car park at the north-eastern corner of the reservoir, I remember being astonished that it wasn’t yet eight o’clock and yet I had already been walking for several hours due to my early start. Continuing on the National Forest Way, I left the reservoir and followed dreary paths beside arable fields turning right at Hangman’s Stone to eventually reach the village of Ticknall. There I entered the grounds of Calke Park and soon started exploring this fabulous area stopping off at a bird feeding station before descending to the ponds following one of the waymarked paths. I came across some bluebells above the ponds, but they seemed nothing special, though grand old oak trees nearby were majestic. Turning north I entered a wood where I was immediately dazzled by many celandines and bluebells that had me mesmerised, until I turned right at the corner of the wood and entered Serpentine Wood where I finally found the awesome displays of bluebells that I had heard so much about. Now I was totally awestruck.

With the sun going in and out behind clouds I lingered for a long time gazing at the fabulous bluebells taking many pictures when the sun was out and standing in awe even when the sun was in. Slowly I made my way along the path through the awesome displays of bluebells until eventually I reached the course of the National Forest Way. After a lingering return through the park back to Calke Abbey I finally decided that it was time to leave and I headed off once more along the route of the National Forest Way around the deer park and down to Staunton Harold Reservoir. The weather was now wonderful with no sign of the patchy sunlight that had plagued me while I had been wandering through the bluebells of Serpentine Wood, so with the main purpose of the walk now completed I wandered slowly in the warm weather past the reservoir and along the road through the tiny hamlet of Calke. Eventually I reached Dimminsdale Nature Reserve where I had seen a fabulous display of snowdrops the year before, but it was now too late in the season for these enchanting flowers.

I had been in this reserve just a month before when I had started my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way and it was astonishing to see how much Dimminsdale had changed in such a short time as it was now teeming with life and vegetation, most notably with celandines and the distinctive smell of wild garlic filled the air. Continuing along the route of the National Forest Way, I was now on the route of section three of the Ivanhoe Way, though in the opposite direction to my circuit. I encountered more bluebells in Mosley’s Plantation, while in the spectacular, though shallow, gorge of Black Ditches, the woodland was filled with wood anemones. Unfortunately the sunshine that I had enjoyed for most of the morning had now been replaced by thick clouds that would ruin the rest of the day and was the reason for my very early start. Just beyond Black Ditches is Park Pale Woods, which I had hated the year before as the path had been horrendously muddy, so with the bogs of the walk the week before still fresh in my mind I tried to take a different route, but I wasn’t entirely successful.

I wandered through this wood for quite a while and was close to getting lost until eventually I found the track of the National Forest Way and the Ivanhoe Way, and rejecting a shortcut that would have taken me straight back to Smisby I followed these trails all the way past a large warehouse and into Ashby. My return to Smisby was along the same route that I had taken the year before. This was a long but interesting walk with many fabulous displays of wild flowers along the way, most notably the bluebells in Calke Park. It was great to retrace my steps from the great walk that I had done the year before on the National Forest Way on a stage that I had thoroughly enjoyed then and thoroughly enjoyed again. I love walking at this time of the year as I love woodland flowers and this walk showed many of these flowers in lots of fabulous locations.