A Walk Through Wild Garlic Woodland

 

Last week D and I went for a walk at Brueton Park LNR where the woodland is always full of wild garlic at this time of year. It is a walk we both enjoy and we try and visit most years in May.  I was also hoping we could add some species to the 2026 Wild Plant Challenge!

Horse Chestnut was flowering in the car park.

Buttercups were flowering in the grassland - I think the species we saw is Creeping Buttercup.  There are four different types of buttercups - Creeping, Meadow, Bulbous and Goldilocks.

Cow Parsley was flowering - I think it is one of my favourite plants.

Daisies

The plant in the centre of the photo by the railings is Cleavers.

The first Wild Garlic flowers - last year the flowers were past their best when we visited but this year they were just perfect.

Comma butterfly - we also saw Speckled Wood and Holly Blue.

A grass to try and identify! We have been in Herefordshire so I haven't had chance yet but my grass/sedge/rush id skills are not very good!

Hawthorn in flower

I puzzled over the id of this tree for ages but I am pretty sure now it is a Whitebeam. If anyone thinks differently please let me know.

A Beautiful Demoiselle - we also saw Small Red Damselflies.

We finally reached the public footpath that enters the Wild Garlic Wood. The path follows the River Blythe which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Brueton Park can get very busy but we rarely see anyone along the walk by the Blythe.  This time we saw just one person at the beginning of the walk.

Wild Garlic just carpeted the ground. Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) has several country/local names such as Ramsons, Buckrams, Broad-leaved Garlic, Bear Lee, Bear's Garlic, Gipsy's Onion and Stinking Jenny.

Purple Toothwort growing on its usual fallen tree trunk. It is a parasitic plant that has naturalised in Britain.

Another grass to try and identify!

Great Reedmace also sometimes called Bulrush.

Germander Speedwell - my grandfather used to call this Bird's Eye Speedwell.

Yellow Archangel an indicator of ancient woodland. This year there were far more plants than we usually see.

I think this is Ground Ivy.

I let David use the camera as we returned as his camera battery ran out as we arrived. Normally we do a longer walk across a meadow and then into another wood but to be honest I had hardly slept the night before and I was just too tired.

Horse Chestnut "candle".  The stamens on flowers of Horse Chestnut, like Hawthorn and Forget Me Not, change colour when they have been pollinated although, in the case of Chestnut, it can be a sign of age.

Wood Avens

Once back in the main park we walked back to the car park via the pool.

And I was glad we did because we added four more species of plant.

Cuckoo Flower or Lady's Smock

Marsh Marigold

Yellow Flag

Rowan

Tufted Duck

I was horrified to see a dog off a lead chase this poor Canada Goose :(

 

Edith Holden of "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" fame often used to follow the River Blythe from Widney which is very close to where we normally walk to. So when I do this walk I often think of her wandering along the Blythe and the plants she recorded seeing.

We stopped off at the shop in Hampton in Arden to buy a drink. Here is the churchyard cat at St Mary and St Bartholomew!

We added another species on the way home - Oxeye Daisies on the grass verge.  Sadly, no photo.

So we added the following species to the "2026 Wild Plant Challenge"

• Creeping Buttercup
• Wild Garlic
• Foget-me-Not
• Cleavers
• Purple Toothwort
• Yellow Archangel
• Wood Avens
• Yellow Flag
• Marsh Marigold
• Cuckoo Flower/Lady's Smock
• Ground Ivy
• Whitebeam
• Rowan
• Ox-Eye Daisy

making the total we have seen so far  55 species.                  

I still have the two grasses to identify so we might be able to take it up to 57.

I have seen Cowslips when in Herefordshire but D wasn't with me and one species we need to try and add soon is Greater Stitchwort.

We need to add more tree species to the list too and, of course, orchids are starting to flower.

All photos taken by me or D with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Stoneleigh Abbey

 

Last Monday D, E and I visited Stoneleigh Abbey near Kenilworth in Warwickshire.

Stoneleigh Abbey is Grade I listed and the grounds are Grade II listed (parks and gardens).  Compared to local National Trust properties I couldn't believe how quiet it was.

Stoneleigh Abbey was founded by a community of Cistercian monks in 1154 after Henry II granted them the land.  Little remains of the original abbey following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536. Apart that is for the C14th Gatehouse which now houses the entrance and a shop.

The Gatehouse was built by the 16th Abbot, Robert de Hokele, in 1346.  Most gatehouses in the UK are in ruins and this is one of the few that remains intact.  Sadly, all other traces of the abbey have disappeared over the last 500 years. The gatehouse was where alms to the poor and hospitality for travellers was given.

After the Dissolution, the estate was purchased by Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London in 1558.  A house was built where there had originally been an abbey.  It was the home of the Leigh family from 1561-1990.  Architect Francis Smith of Warwick built a new 4 storey 15-bay west wing between 1714 and 1726 in the Baroque style.

An Ionic column

In 1960 the house was damaged by fire and needed restoration work which the Leigh family were unable to do and the house was sold to a charitable trust. Their efforts failed but the Abbey was eventually saved by a new independent charitable trust who opened the Abbey to the public in 2003.

The grounds were designed by Humphry Repton who was an important C18th landscape designer.   Repton wanted any alterations to the grounds to enhance natural beauty.  Work has now begun to restore the grounds as Repton designed them.

The main reason for the visit was because E had an afternoon tea voucher to use (a birthday present from last year).  

Tapestries in the tearoom.

A rather delicious afternoon tea :)

Timothy after enjoying the prosecco and a macaron!

After the tea we had a look around a small museum and the chapel.

Medieval tiles from local religious establishments mainly Wormleighton church.

The Chapel

The Leighs were Jane Austen's maternal relatives and in 1806, with the Reverend Thomas Leigh their mother's cousin, Jane and her sister Cassandra visited Stoneleigh Abbey.

It is believed Jane Austen was inspired by the lake and grounds and family intrigues and included details of these and the home in her novels. In her book "Mansfield Park" the chapel she describes is very like the one at the Abbey. She even mentions the red cushions peering over the edge of the family gallery - see photo below.

A sketch of the Cistercian Abbey

I was in my element when I spotted all the heraldry on the walls :)

While E and I were having afternoon tea D took himself off to explore the grounds around the lakes and woodlands. (I did offer to buy him tea and cake so he could sit with us but he is on a diet and was happy to go for a walk with the sandwich he had brought with him).

Some photos of his walk.

 

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

*D

We met up with D and went for a walk around the lake.

Egyptian Geese and Goslings.  We also saw Canada Geese goslings and Greylags sitting on eggs.

The pump house which will be restored.

The Orangery

Other well known people who have visited the abbey were Charles I who stayed at the abbey for 3 days during the English Civil War and in 1858 Queen Victoria spent 2 nights there.

2026 100 Plants in a Year Challenge

While we were there D and I saw several new species for our plant challenge.

Garlic Mustard and Hawthorn are not new species for the list but I now have photos of them in flower.

Ivy Leafed Toadflax

Red Campion

Germander Speedwell

*D

Bracken

*D

Red Chestnut - a hybrid of Horse Chestnut and Red Buckeye

*D

With species of wild plant we have seen in the garden and elsewhere we have now seen 40 species since we started the challenge.

We all had a lovely time at the Abbey. I really don't know why we haven't visited before.  We shall certainly go again and they also do house tours on certain days which would be interesting to attend.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and those marked *D were taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference:

Stoneleigh Abbey Website

Stoneleigh Abbey Guidebook