After a night of heavy rain and strong winds we woke up to a cool but bright and sunny morning. It’s been a busy week with one thing and another so this morning we decided to head up north with the dogs for a walk around Thorpe Perrow Arboretum. I was surprised to note the last time we visited here was the middle of last October, where has that time gone? I was a little concerned before we set of as it was quite windy, so after checking on their website everything was open as usual. It was just after 11 o’clock as we arrived in the car park, it was a straightforward one-hour car journey from home which gave us plenty of time for a walk and some brunch in the café.

After exchanging pleasantries with the staff in the café/ticket office, we purchased a takeaway coffee and cake before we set off on our walk. The sunshine was very welcome on your back as it was still quite cool in the shade. There was a lovely blue sky with just one or two large white fluffy clouds. We followed our usual route over the tiny stream, which is usually just a little trickle, this morning the water was flowing quite briskly due to the vast amount of rain we have had recently. Spring was very much in the air today with vast swathes of emerging Snowdrops coming into flower.

Amongst the woodlands at Thorp Perrow there are 41 different types of Snowdrop thriving in the arboretum, ranging from the garden favourite to some more rare and unusual types. I think it will be several weeks yet before they are at their best though.

We continued to follow the stream, passing the bridge over to ‘Henry’s Island’ on the right, here the stream opens out into a small lake, we continued following the streamside walk, stopping for a few moments to watch a pair of swans as they gracefully glided past us. Passing the house on the far side of the stream, we continued our walk alongside the lake, crossing the bridge over to ‘Kate’s Island’ and stopping to admire the intricate carvings in the tree stump adjacent to the bridge.

Following the lakeside path, we stopped to look at the view along the stream towards ‘The Catherine Parr Oak’ in the distance. The shrubbery on the bank sides had been trimmed back during the Autumn in preparation for the new growth in the Spring. We followed the path through the ‘Millbank Pinetum’ to ‘the Bird of Prey centre’ were he headed back inland and followed the path to the ‘big Jubilee Oak’, we turned right here following one of the smaller ponds to the ‘Catherine Parr Oak’. This tree always amazes me in that it has a planting date of 1534 and was planted the same year that Catherine Parr married Baron Latimer of Snape, it was after the Baron’s death that Catherine went on to marry King Edward V111, the final wife who survived him. The tree is currently part of a retrenchment programme which effectively reduces the size of the crown, relieves the stress and pressure withing the tree and allows new growth, hoping that the tree will last for another 500 years. We followed the path alongside the small pond to ‘the Acorn mound’ and as it was getting quite wet and muddy underfoot decided to follow the main path back to the children’s play area and on to the café tearoom where we enjoyed a very pleasant bacon and egg sandwich and pot of tea.