Bluebells

Last weekend was a long weekend here in England, so we took the opportunity to travel down to the south. Having the Isle of Wight as our furthest destination. The island is a very good representative for UK, as many other places. There is lots to see and do, everything from slot machines to hiking to garlic farms :)
Anyhow, back to the beginning. Our trip actually started on Friday late afternoon when we drove down to Northampton. Why there, because it close to the Coton manor and its incredible garden. A privately owned garden with a beech forest and the largest bluebell population in full bloom in the whole of UK right now. As it is private, they are actually clearing out the forest a bit so that the bluebells can grow tightly and there is not much debris in the pictures :)
Unfortunately a tripod or monopod cannot be used, and the garden is only open between 12-17 when the light is so harsh. Anyhow, it was awesome to see. 60% of the world's bluebells are here in England and they thrive only in forests that are old enough. Amazing....
After couple of hours wandering around the garden it was time to drive down to Isle of Wight. As earlier mentioned, an amazing little island just outside of Southampton. Pictures from there in the next blog....

                                                                      

The Beautiful Bluebell Forest

Here in England between April and May you can in ancient woodlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_woodland) find something impressive, which is bluebells almost covers entirly the forest floors. They spread amazing scent and look beautiful.
I've been in one of those woodlands for the past two evenings and photographed. The closes one to us here in Sheffield is the Ecclesall woods. It's a 400 year old forest, which is required for these flowers.
Ecclesall Woods is best one to visit in Sheffield if you want to see bluebells, but unfortunately it is not as good as some other forests around the country.
The flowers do not cover the forest entierly, but in some areas it can be an awful lot of them :)
I found it was rather difficult photographed because of all the small trees and shrubs that always were in the way.

This weekend Sat-Mon (bank holiday here in UK), I will again go to the Lake District NP. This time we are hiking with a bunch of friends and climb the highest peak in England - Scafell Pike with its 978meter above sea level. It may not sound impressive but it is very steep and difficult to climb.