Bluebells in Wembury Woods

We were hoping that there would be a lovely display of bluebells in Wembury Woods so we repeated the walk we did a few weeks ago from Wembury Village.

There were bluebells in the hedgerows and when we first entered the wood we could see bluebells in flower, but there were others still not fully out.  This meant the display was not as spectacular as it would be in a week or two.

Last time we did this walk the estuary was muddy and unattractive.  This time is was high tide, but the day was grey and cloudy so the view from the viewpoint was not spectacular.  It was unfortunate there were no bluebells by the estuary.

At the side of the bridge over the creek there were some bluebells, but unfortunately there were not out enough to give more than a light blue haze in the distant.  This would look lovely when the bluebells are completely out.

After we left the bridge to walk through Hollocombe Wood the path was a lot muddier and the bluebells even less out.  As we climbed up through Traine Wood they were hardly out at all.

Saltram, again

There has been a lot of showery weather lately, but Friday was sunny, even though showers were forecast.  I had spent all morning working, so was ready for a short walk in the afternoon.  We chose Saltram as we knew we would be on paths all the time, so it would not be too muddy and it was not too far for me to drive when I was tired.

There were quite a few bluebells out and other spring flowers out.  The most spectacular splash of colour was by the pond.

Bluebells in Mount Edgecombe Park

When we visited Mount Edgecombe a few weeks ago we noticed lots of bluebell plants so we thought there would be a good display of these colourful flowers by now.

From the Cremyll ferry we walked along the South West Coast path as far as the zig zags.  This is where there were banks of bluebells but we were disappointed that not many of them were out.  As we walked back we noticed that there were bluebells out on the banks and woodland above the path.  It was lovely to look at the bluebells with the sea in the background.

Thorn House, Wembury

Thorn House was opening its garden today for charity, and my mother expressed an interest in it so we went to see what it was like.

We turned off the main road to Wembury just before getting to the village and went down a narrow country lane and then a long drive.  There were not many passing places so I was glad we only met one car coming in the opposite direction.  As we drove along we noticed lots of primroses in the hedges at the side of the road.

The view from the courtyard in front of Thorn House,looking up the river was lovely - I was glad it was high tide.

Everywhere we looked in the garden there were masses of primroses.    I have never seen so many primroses massed together.

There were lots of other spring flowers as well, bluebells, cyclamen, camelias, azaleas, etc, but  it was really a wild garden, with not much formal planting except on the main terrace.

 

The garden was on a slope that led down to the River Yealm, and as we walked around we had frequent views of the river and boats moored in it through the trees .

At the far end of the garden there were views into Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo.

Having walked around most of the 12 acres of the garden we finished off our visit with a lovely cream tea, courtesy of the ladies of Wembury Church.

Buckland Abbey

I had seen that the bluebells were out in the woods around Buckland Abbey so we decided to go and see them. In the past we have done the yellow, green and red walks around the Abbey grounds so this time we decided to try the longest walk - the blue walk.  There is also a letterboxing trail around this walk so we thought we would follow this so that we would be prepared when we take Oscar another time.

To begin with we were disappointed that we did not see many bluebells, however there were primroses, violets and wood anenomes.  We had seen many of these spring flowers recently as we have been out walking, but then we saw an unusual plant - a cowslip.

When we were about three quarter of the way around the walk and by the river we started to see bluebells on the banks above the path.

When we had finished the walk we went into the Cider House garden.  There were more flowers out today than when we visited last time and it was really pretty.

Antony

Antony House does not open before Easter, so today was the first opportunity to see the gardens there.  There were lots of children enjoying the Easter egg hunt around the grounds so we went straight to the Woodland Gardens.  There were many camelias in flower bordering the paths.

There were occasional magnolias also in flower, their white blossom giving a contrast to the pinks and reds of the camelias.

The bluebells were just beginning to come out and at one point we could see a blue haze as there was a group of them.

There were primroses on either side of the paths and at times carpets of them.

As we walked back to Antony House we stopped to see the daffodils that were still out in the grounds.

Shaldon

We followed the instructions for this walk from the Jarrold Short Walks South Devon book.  This walk started at the car park in Shaldon but we went to Teignmouth by train and walked down to the sea front and then along to catch the ferry to Shaldon.  The flower beds in Teignmouth were looking very bright and attrative.

The walk started by going through the village of Shaldon along the estuary of the River Teign.  It was unfortunate that the tide was out - it would have been prettier at high tide.  Having passed the road bridge to Teignmouth we walked on to Gravel Point then turned up towards Ringmore.  This was a very pretty village with lots of thatched cottages.  The road steadily went uphill but we were rewarded by some wonderful views up the river Teign and towards Dartmoor.  When we turned into Butterfly Lane we hoped to see butterflies but it was a cloudy cool day so none were around.  However, there were more spectacular views including this one back to Teignmouth.

We had just commented what a lovely walk this was when we came to a very large puddle that completely engulfed the path.  We had to edge past it almost in the hedge, holding on to vegetation to stop up slipping in. Just at the end Andy's foot slip and went up to his ankle in red muddy water!  We continued on hoping there were no further 'puddles' but soon came to an even larger one.  We realised there was not way we could walk through this one, but fortunately spotted that someone had made steps up the side of the hedge and there was a very narrow path along the top of the hedge.  We carefully, slowly walked along here and managed to get past the pool of water.

When we got to the end of Butterfly Lane we could see down the coast to Labrador Bay.

We could have cut across to the South West Coast Path at this point but it would have meant walking along the A379 which is a busy road with no verges so we kept to the instructions in the book and walked inland for a while before going along the A379 for 200 yards before joining the SW Coast Path.  We were glad it was only this short a portion as it was a dangerous section.

When we got on to the SW Coast Path we started walking down a very steep  slope.  This gave us another viewpoint of Teignmouth.

The path continued making its way downward until we reached Shaldon.  We could have returned to Teignmouth and the railway station via the ferry, but instead decided to continue walking to the road bridge and walk across this back to Teignmouth.  It was a pleasant walk through Shaldon but on the other side of the river we had to go up a hill to get past buildings before we dropped down into Teignmouth Town Centre and on to the railway station.

Wembury Woods

 I had heard that there were a lot of bluebells in Wembury Woods so we decided to go and see if they were out. We were following the walk @ http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/servlet/pdf/1/360479/Trail/Walking/Wembury_Woods_walk.pdf.

We drove to Wembury village and parked by the playing fields.  There was a clearly marked path across fields to Wembury Woods.  There were lots of views across the countryside and down to the River Yealm and the creek.  Unfortunately it was low tide so it did not look as attractive as it could have.  Once we reached the woods we saw that the woodland floor was covered with bluebell flowers, but only a few were out.  We continued walking down towards Cofflete Creek to a viewpoint where there was a seat.  This was the only steep slope on the walk.  Having walked back to the path we continued through the wood gradually going up hill.  Wembury Woods then became Hollocombe Woods and then Traine Woods.

Eventually we came out to the main road at Hollocombe.  The walk directions told us to follow this road back to Wembury village.  But as it is a busy road with no pavements we chose to go in the other direction and cross over the road and walk down Traine Road which is a single lane road and part of the Erme-Plym Trail. Between hedges on this road we could see the sea at Wembury. The road came out on the main road at the Odd Wheel Pub, so it was then only a short walk back to the car.

This is definitely a walk we will do again, and probably in just a few weeks time when all the bluebells are out.  It should look spectactular then.  Hopefully we will be able to time our visit to high tide to get the best views of the river and creek.