easter

Bluebell season is here – perfect for Easter walks
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Bluebell season is here – perfect for Easter walks

Bluebell season is upon us and it’s only Easter! ‘We’re not ready’, you say, ‘they’re too early’. It’s true – as I discovered last week at Ide Hill, they are a bit too keen this year. No idea why; wet February, dryish March, not too cold? Who knows, but usually they peak around 20-25 April in these west Kent parts. This year the peak looks like being around 10-20 April. They are already fairly spectacular, though not yet at full bloom.

The new contender for Best Bluebells of Kent Walks Near London is Home Wood in the Lullingstone Country Park. This is an obscure corner of the park just south of Lower Beechen Wood. It’s a less frequented neck of the woods and little known to me but the bluebells are great. Check out the map here to locate Home Wood. It’s kind of on the Full Lullingstone route I describe on this page – but use the map to find Home Wood.

Swathes of bluebells can be found on most of the Kent Walks near London – but One Tree Hill, Ide Hill, Meenfield wood on the Polhill walks, Cudham, Lullingstone (not the Eynsford route but the above mentioned full circuit) stand out in particular.

Here is last year’s Bluebell guide… very much applicable to this year I’d imagine! More on this soon, when I’ve decided on the results this year…

  • Emmett Gardens
  • Peak bluebells, Downe.
    Near Downe. April 24
  • Wilmott Hill bluebells
  • bluebells
    Meenfield Wood, April 2022
  • Early bluebells, Cudham
  • Meenfield wood
  • Mariners Hill, Hosey walk
  • New Years Wood bluebells near Cudham/Knockholt
    New Years Wood bluebells, just starting to bloom
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Easter – a curate’s egg

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The weather forecasters were spot on: sunny Good Friday, dreary Saturday, all over the place Sunday and Monday (with a dose of tropical storm bringing down branches and fences on Sunday night). A lot of the paths returned to peak mud status and the magnolias at Emmetts, usually so beautiful at this time of year, were looking a bit windblown and fed up. Looking at the pictures I put up below, on my previous post, I realise they must have been taken in mid-April last year – certainly the tulips at Emmetts were some way off flowering this weekend. So apologies to anyone I mis-sold on that! In the meantime, above are some pictures from Sunday and Monday at Knole and Ide Hill.

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An early Easter as the meadows and woods wake up

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This weekend is bound to be a big one for walking; I’m just hoping the mud has subsided a bit now it’s been dry for a while. The early weather forecasts are suggesting that Good Friday will be best on the meteorological front; after that it’s downhill with a drizzly Saturday and showery Sunday in store. Check the Met Office here. Spring proper is just round the corner and the countryside is waking up. I’ve seen my first queen bumblebee of the year; ponds are full of frog and toad spawn; birdsong is taking off (though I’m yet to hear signs of chiffchaff arrivals from Africa – Ide Hill walk great for them); wood anenomes, hawthorn, and wild garlic are flowering; and the carpet of green in the woods will be turning blue by mid-April from the looks of it, although I spotted my first flowering bluebell in early February this year – see previous blog post.

It’s a good time to visit National Trust and other interesting places, which usually offer nature walks and children’s activities in the coming days. Here are some of my favourites, either on or close to the walks listed here:

• Penshurst Place (nr Tonbridge): crafts, storytelling and, for adults, a spring guided stroll including lunch (£28 including admission)
• High Elms nature reserve (nr Bromley): excellent nature centre with orchards, ponds, cafe, wildlife information plus gardens (free)
• Hever Castle (nr Edenbridge): an array of easter stuff including a Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt (free after paying admission)
• Emmett’s Gardens: (nr Ide Hill/Brasted): Cadbury’s (or should that be Kraft?) easter egg hunt (free after paying admission)
• Knole: (Sevenoaks) guided walks, easter egg hunt (free after admission)
• Lullingstone Country Park (Eynsford): activity trail and easter egg hunt
• Down House (Downe/Bromley): something interactive and historical for kids involving people in costumes (basically I’m not quite sure, but chocolate will happen). Very close to High Elms though, so could tie in.

And here are those walks again. They work for me at all times but in the spring I’ve always favoured the Otford circular via Romney St and the Ide Hill walks for some reason.

• Download Walk 1: Downe circular (near Bromley, 2.6 miles) View on your phone/PC
• Download Walk 2: Shoreham circular (3.5 miles) View
• Download Walk 3: Shoreham to Eynsford (4.2 miles) View
• Download Walk 4: Ide Hill circular (3 miles) View
• Download Walk 5: Otford circular via Romney St (5.5 miles) View
• Download Walk 6: One Tree Hill circular (near Sevenoaks, 5.5 miles) View
• Download Walk 7: One Tree Hill figure of eight (near Sevenoaks, 5 miles) View
• Download Walk 8: Shoreham/Otford circular (5 miles) View
• Download Walk 9: Hever circular (4.5 miles) View
• Download Walk 10: Chiddingstone/Penshurst circular (4 miles) View