I've always enjoyed my bluebell walks during April/May time in UK, and ever since living away from UK in the past few years, I've missed them so much. This year is the second year I'm 'stuck' in UK due to Covid (it's not really as bad as it sounds) and I'm making the most of my time here to go on as many bluebell walks as I can.
Gatton Park
Gatton Park and Reigate Hill covers 600 acres in the south east England and offers sweeping views of the nearby towns on the foot of the hill. In addition, there's a massive woodland, that's where I OD'ed with bluebells, I'll show you in a minute.
Lunch first. How about this view for lunch? I bet not many three Michelin star restaurants can offer this view to their diners. My lunch may be a humble ham and cheese sandwich, but who needs gourmet food when you're eating in this environment. The ambience is just priceless. Great way to start my walk of the day.
Gatton Park walk
Today's walk is just over 3km and would take an hour. As usual, I took my time to stroll amongst the grounds. Time is what I have plenty of nowadays. A small section of this walk is part of the North Downs Way, a 246km long trail along the south of England and covers a lot of England's AONB (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty). Here are some examples.
In typical British low key fashion, our landscape doesn't wow you and take your breath away instantly. It sits there quietly. You may not notice her immediately, but it grows on you and you gradually realise what a beauty she is.
Millenium Stones
Apart from the North Downs Way, the Pilgrims Way is another ancient route that runs through this area. The route is believed to date back to as far as the Stone Age and was used by the Christian pilgrims travelling from Winchester to Canterbury, two ancient English cities.
The Millennium Stones were erected in... yes the Year 2000. There are 10 stones each representing a 200 year period. Each stone has a different design, typography and inscribed with quotes or poems from the different periods. The inscription on the first stone is from St John's Gospel,
And the Word was with God.
And the Word was God.
And on the tenth stone, the inscription is from TS Eliot's Four Quartet, Burnt Norton.
Neither flesh or fleshless.
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is
But neither arrest nor movement.
Bluebell Overdose
I heard from the locals that Gatton Park is a great place to spot bluebells, but I wasn't expecting this. After the Millennium Stone, I followed the path alongside the woods. Suddenly, I vaguely saw a patch of blue peeping through the trees. I scrambled a little uphill to get into the woods and couldn't believe what I saw. It was paradise!!!
Have you ever taken a kid to Disney World and he/she runs around aimlessly like a goof? Shall I go to find Mickey Mouse? No, let's see Donald Duck first. I wanna to go to Magic Kingdom.
It's not the first time I've seen bluebells, yet this area was massive!!! Everywhere I looked, I could see an ocean of blue ahead of me. I couldn't decided whether I should go left, right or center. This was my Disney World. If one could OD on bluebell, this would be it.
As you've gathered by now, it doesn't take much to excite me nowadays. Perhaps being away from UK for a few years meant I've missed my bluebell dose in the past few years, hence this was extra special. Or perhaps I've learnt to appreciate nature more as I've aged. Or perhaps, I've never OD'ed before and there's always a first for everything.
You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below
Beautiful blue forest flower plant
Thanks, blue is so unique in floral, that's why I like it so much!!
wonderfull
A bluebell fairytale, never seen a place like this, wow :)
Hi @livinguktaiwan,
Thank you for participating in the #teamuk curated tag. We have upvoted your quality content.
For more information visit our discord https://discord.gg/8CVx2Am
Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
Beautiful deep blue.
It is in deed.
Love this post! Right when I saw that set of 4 pictures I drew in a breath they are so beautiful. I think living in England you see all that green and beauty and it has to sink a little deeper. For me being in the desert it hits me. Amazing, I am sure the ham and cheese tasted amazing with that view. I also love your excitement for the bluebells and not knowing which way to turn. So cute.
I think the desert views, or at least the ones you share with have an instant impact on us, like whacks you across the face with a big wow - a nice whack by the way!!!
Even my hubby found it quite fascinating when he saw the bluebells and he's usually quite cool with these sort of things 😀
I am working on some posts of the southern Utah desert and it is so interesting and fascinating to me. It will be really fun for you. Are you excited about photogames next week?
That bluebell meadow is just breathtaking, it's so beautiful...
Thanks @priyanarc. Do you have bluebells in Ukraine?
We have Siberian Squill that is almost similar to Bluebell...
Beautiful photos of the bluebells @livinguktaiwan!! Your photos remind me of the first time that I saw a field of bluebells and it was breathtaking! Paradise is fitting and I'm glad you made it out to see them and get photos. I loved the other photos as well! 💖
Thanks @deerjay. I think the fact they don't last very long makes them that extra special. I was very tempted to post more photos. then I thought less is more 😊
You're very welcome @livinguktaiwan! It is special when one can catch them on time and they do have a short window on blooming. I tend to go a bit overboard on the photos myself..lol. I really enjoyed seeing you photos! 💖
Beautiful scenery and lovely bluebells. I've cycled through a few bluebell woods myself lately.
I went to Redhill Technical College when I was a teenager which is at Gatton Point.
Where else is a nice place to see bluebells, and easy'ish with public transport? I'm trying to catch a few more whilst they're still in season.
Gatton Park isn't very public transport friendly I found. There's nowhere to walk to the bus stop when you leave, I ended up walking through the bridleway two bus stop further on. Absolute crazy, luckily it was downhill so it wasn't too bad.
I recently visited Gatwick Woods near Gatwick Airport which was impressive. It's on the east side off the Balcombe road if you are able to get there.
Thanks!! I'll check it out
Beautiful landscape, there are millions of bluebells, I don't think I've ever seen so many together, it looks like the garden of a movie scene.
It was truly enchanting, feel like I'm in a world of my own
Awesome photos of bluebells. It reminds me when i used to live a bit far from Belgrade near the village side and it was awesome when i used to go for a walk through bluebell parks.
Those must have been lovely days. Where are you based now?
They were. Now i love near the center of Belgrade its mostly concrete and buildings
Wow! The sky was perfect for such a beautiful landscape. Looks like a great day out for a walk!
Absolutely! Our weather is so unstable and can swing from hailstone to sunshine within a couple of hours like today. That particular day out was fantastic
Very nice pictures. I love the contact with the nature.
Thanks for dropping by !
I've never seen so many bluebells in one place. Wonderful! My favorite color is blue.
Rural England, the landscape and the peace I see is all that can be more pleasant. I'm glad you were able to make this trip and thank you for seeing a small part of it.
Thanks @tinman88.
Just delete what you see on the post, ie everything outside of the bracket including the bracket itself. Markdown doesn't like that extra bit of information.
Any questions, don't hesitate to ask anytime.
That great! You just have to delete it everytime. You should be checking your post to see how it looks before posting anyway.