Dimminsdale and Calke Park

Saturday 4th March 2017

Apart from a brief outing at Christmas I consider my walking season to be from March to October as outside of those months the weather is not really good enough for me to have a satisfying walk (since I am not interested in winter sports). Last week I described the last walk that I did last year (not including the week in the Lake District at Christmas) and now I am moving onto the first walk that I did this year. Throughout last year I had been walking around the Ivanhoe Way and I had been intending on starting this year with my last section of the trail from Ashby-de-la Zouch to the Dimminsdale Nature Reserve. There is a stunning display of Snowdrops at Dimminsdale in late winter that I wanted to see and completing the last section of the Ivanhoe Way would have made a good excuse, but in the end I decided that it wasn’t necessary as I’ve already walked that section before during the National Forest Way and I don’t need an excuse. All I needed was some good weather and that came on the first weekend in March.

I first came to Dimminsdale two years ago on the National Forest Way and without realising it I had timed it perfectly to see the snowdrops at their peak. Last year I started the Ivanhoe Way in Dimminsdale at the same time of the year to pay those snowdrops a return visit and now I was back this year just so I could see those snowdrops. The paths through the Dimminsdale Nature Reserve were very muddy underfoot, but that wasn’t my biggest problem. When I tried to take some pictures of the wonderful displays of snowdrops I realised that the batteries in my camera were flat and all the other batteries that I had taken with me were also flat. This was really frustrating as I had come all this way to take photos of snowdrops, and although I would be able to use my phone it doesn’t take as good pictures. Heading around the muddy reserve past the remains of the limekilns, I headed up to the site of the mine manager's garden where all the snowdrops are to be found.

Snowdrops are an introduced flower to Britain so are only found in the wild where someone has planted them and after several hundred years these snowdrops have spread all over that corner of the reserve to produce a gorgeous display. I did another circuit of the reserve while trying to get my camera to work, but to no avail so I made use of my phone before heading off along a path beside Red Brook out of the reserve and onto the road. On the other side there is a National Trust sign directing a route to the right, which I followed through a wood and into Calke Park, a National Trust property. I first came to Calke Abbey two years ago on the same stage of the National Forest Way previously mentioned, and I returned last year to see their bluebells. I was keen to explore this fascinating area further, so after a brief visit to the centre buildings I started off along the red way-marked trail past the abbey and towards St Giles’ Church.

Turning off the track I walked past a derelict deer shelter, where I had my lunch, and through the damp, grassy parkland. The sun was shining brightly, which uplifted my soul and made me happy to be out walking in the countryside again with the promise of spring just around the corner. The Red Walk took me through a wetland area to join up with the National Forest Way, which I followed to leave the Red Walk which was heading back towards Calke Abbey. At a tunnel I turned right off the National Forest Way into the Ticknall Limeyards, which was an area I was keen to explore. It is amazing that a place that was heavily industrialised a couple of hundred years ago is now completely taken over by nature to a tremendous effect. The woodland that now covers the limeyards will probably look even more spectacular in a couple of months when there are leaves on the trees and flowers on the ground. The old tramway that I was walking on and the heavily undulating ground were the only signs that there had been any previous industrial activity.

Following the path through the limeyards, branching off several times to explore, I walked past the old limekilns and eventually left the woods crossing several fields to re-enter Calke Park on the route of the National Forest Way on its way through the park. Rather than following the trail towards Calke Abbey, I turned left to head through Serpentine Wood where last year I had seen a fabulous display of bluebells. There were no signs of bluebells now, so I kept on going through the wood and out at the far end to cross the drive and rejoin the National Forest Way on its route out of Calke Park. Before reaching the tunnel I once again left the trail and this time turned left onto the course of the old tramway as it leaves the Ticknall Limeyards. This tramway has only recently been restored so I had an easy walk along the course of this little railway that for several miles took me around the edge of Calke Park and back to Dimminsdale. This walk was a good start to my walking season after my winter exile where I was released back into the countryside so I could once more enjoy the sunshine and open spaces. On this walk I really just went for a bit of a wander around with no real route in mind except to visit the snowdrops in Dimminsdale, and to explore the limeyards including the tramway. However, the real goal of this walk was to be back out in the countryside and enjoy the sunshine and the dawn of spring.