More Than Just Trees

It continues to amaze me that, after eight-and-a-half years of writing this blog, I still find places within an hour or so of home that I've never visited before. Yesterday it was Lynford Arboretum in Norfolk which, it turns out, has a lot more to see than just trees.

A line of flooded sand and gravel pits along the valley of the River Wissey provide a home for water birds, and in summer they're a favourite picnic destination for families.

There's even a beach! Or more exactly there's a large area of sand left behind by the quarrying operations. 

This whole area is surrounded by trees in the shape of Thetford Forest, which is lowland Britain's largest area of commercial forestry, created in the wake of WWI to increase the country's reserves of wood. Nowadays the Forestry Commission manage the land for recreation and wildlife as well as timber production. Persistent high-pitched yipping calls from the treetops gave away the presence of Crossbills feeding on the pine cones, getting a clear view of them was another matter!

The Arboretum owes its existence to the former owners of Lynford Hall (now a hotel). The present building is just the latest mansion to stand on the site. It was built in the 1860s for Mr Stephens Lyne-Stephens who was reckoned to be the richest commoner in the country. A huge area of formal gardens, including the Arboretum, was laid out around the Hall. Some of those gardens are retained as the hotel's private grounds but much of it is now in the hands of the Forestry Commission, who own most of the Hall's former estate.

I've often shown you pictures of Highland Cattle, with their huge horns and shaggy coats, on the blog, but I think this is the first time I've shown you one of their little calves. Cute or what?

It's strange to suddenly come across a beech woodland in the midst of the largely coniferous forests, presumably inherited from the old estate.

And even stranger to find a small, Victorian church in amongst all the trees. It's actually a Catholic church and was built for Yolande Duvernay, a former ballerina and one of the most beautiful women of her time. She became the mistress and later the wife of a rather plain, plump, balding man who was some eleven years older than her. The fact that he was immensely wealthy must have helped (!). Yes, she became Mrs Stephens Lyne-Stephens and on his death inherited his huge fortune.

This little woodland church was small beer for Yolande; she also paid for the huge, cathedral-sized Catholic Church in Cambridge. She led a very colourful life and is the subject of the book The Beauty of Her Age: A Tale of Sex, Scandal and Money in Victorian England by Jenifer Roberts.

Time to get outside again and continue our walk.

For some reason I lingered to view this overgrown and neglected doorway around the back of the church, which seemed to capture the sadness of this redundant little building.

The path weaves its way back through the trees, many of which are non-native species which survive from the Victorian landscaping of the grounds around the Hall.

Just a touch of Autumn colour was beginning to show as we get closer to the Arboretum. It's going to look magnificent in a week or two, though I don't expect to re-visit this year - we'll find some autumnal shades somewhere though, I'm sure.

There was something else I was hoping to see while I was here.....

…..from a distance you could easily mistake these little fungi for some late summer flowers; they are certainly colourful enough!

One that had been kicked over revealed its even more vivid underside.

These fungi were so tall that I could get my camera down to ground-level and look upwards at them. But someone was looking at my antics with distaste....

A green man had been carved into one of the dead tree stumps and it's now rotting and disintegrating in a very pleasing fashion.

There are several well-marked walking routes in the area so I'll probably be back again to investigate further.


Take care.