After a short forty-minute walk earlier this morning with Meg and Gracie, I packed the car headed up the A1 motorway to Thorpe Perrow Arboretum and wildlife centre on the outskirts of the lovely market town of Bedale on the edge of the Dales National Park, arriving just after eleven o’clock. With most of the school age children being back at school today after their summer holiday, the arboretum was relatively quiet, many of the visitors being grandparents taking their grandchildren for a walk.

The weather forecast for today was a little bit concerning, rain and thundery showers were forecast from mid-morning till early evening. I drove through a couple of light showers just before we reached Bedale but they did not last long at all, and by the time we arrived at the arboretum it was fine and dry with intermittent sunshine and a light fresh westerly breeze. 

The Arboretum is quite unique to this country in that it was the creation of Colonel Sir Leonard Ropner (1895-1977), after his death, his son, Sir John Ropner (1937-2016) and wife Niki went on to develop the Arboretum which we see today covering over one hundred acres. Following Sir John’s death in 2016 his son, Sir Henry Ropner, along with his wife Natasha and family are the present custodians. 

The arboretum is the current home to 5 National Plant Collections and 51 Champion Trees (recorded and designated by the Tree register of the British Isles).

After a quick coffee from the Tea shop we followed the path of the stream along the ‘water steps path,’ the water level in the stream was very low in places due to the drought, small clusters of flowering Cyclamen and Autumn Crocus added extra colour under the trees. As we passed Henry’s Island on our right, several Mallard ducks were swimming on the far shoreline quietly going about their business. The water level in the main lake must have been at least twelve inches below its normal level; in all the years we have been visiting the Arboretum I have never seen the water level as low as it was today. As we entered the Milbank Pinetum it was quite notable that Autumn was just around the corner, many of the trees and shrubs were turning a beautiful Golden-brown colour. 

We continued our walk through the Milbank Pinetum and followed the path to the Bird of Prey and Mammal centre, here we turned left along Birch Avenue to the Jubilee Oak, planted in 1935 to commemorate the jubilee of King George V where we sat on one of the benches for a few minutes. The Hydrangeas behind the Jubilee Oak were still in flower and added a pleasant splash of colour to the area. Continuing our walk along the Millenium Walk, we stopped to admire the bright red berries on the Rowan trees, Guelder Roses, and Hawthorn. 

Arriving at the Catherine Parr Oak we always stop to admire this tree as it has a planting date of 1534 the same year that Catherine Parr married Baron Latimer of Snape, they lived locally in Snape Castle which can be seen from the car park. Following the Barons death in 1543 Catherine went on to marry Henry VIII, his final wife who survived him!

The water in the small ponds opposite the big Oak had all but dried up with just several small pools of stagnant wate. From here we headed down to the Bothy and followed the Cherry Avenue to the ‘Ropner Memorial,’ where after a brief sit down to enjoy the view looking along the Main Avenue, we continued along the Cypress Avenue and back to the Tea room where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch sat outside in the sunshine. 

Foot note, as I was driving home along the A1 south we had several torrential downpours, and traffic had to slow down to 30mph, by the time we arrived home some thirty minutes later the sun was shining and no traces of the rain!