My first visit to Thorpe Perrow, February 2017. 

We followed the ‘Snowdrop Trail’ a route from the visitors centre, past the ‘pet cemetery’ and Henry’s Island to the lake, following the lake to the bridge and onto the Milbank Pinetum planted by Lady Augusta Millbank in the mid nineteenth century and on to the Falconry Centre, from there we headed to the Jubilee oak a fine specimen and a lovely spot to have a sit down to soak up the views. There are 24 varieties of Snowdrop in the Arboretum and they all made for a lovely picture.

The gardens are all marked out in sections with all the pathways identified with names such as ‘Cherry Avenue’ Carolyn’s Walk’, ‘Acer Glade’ and ‘Lime Avenue’ just to name a few. Each Section inter-connects with its neighbour via paths, grass walks, glades, bays, or avenues. Many of the trees and shrubs have come from various parts of the continents from around the world, having origins in China, Japan, North America, Chile, and Europe.

During the early summer of 2004, 67 trees within the arboretum were recorded and designated as "Champion Trees" by The Tree Register of the British Isles.

On one of our little breaks I was reading that Snowdrops are used a lot in herbal medicines, an extract called Galantamine is used to treat the nervous system as well as people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, amazing. We continued our walk admiring all the different varieties of snowdrops and made our way back to the lake, the aroma of the soup and foody things drifting across towards us was too tempting to avoid, so from the lake we continued along the path to the visitors centre and cafe, I popped the dogs into the back of the car, after I had dried them down thoroughly and given them a drink before I headed back to the centre to enjoy a very pleasant bowl of soup and piece of lemon drizzle cake (my favourite). I look forward to our next visit.