Autumn: a dazzling array of colours
Whenever you tell people that you work at Westonbirt arboretum, they inevitably respond with things like “It must be a wonderful place to work” and “I bet it’s beautiful at the moment”. It certainly is both of those things, but the challenge is escaping from your desk (we have had almost 800 people join the Friends this October!) to get out there and really appreciate it.
A recent phonecall from one of our Friends, asking what the Autumn colour is like this year, made us realise that we should take advantage of being in this wonderful environment and prompted today’s lunchtime Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum team ‘field trip’ into the trees.
Armed with a map and a camera and on a very tight schedule we headed into the Silk Wood. We had only just gone through Skilling Gate when the resounding “Oooooh” called for our first photo stop at an Acer Palmatum v. heptalobum, or as we renamed it, the ‘Rhubarb and Custard Maple’.
We carried on our journey, determined to reach Maple Loop before we had to get back to the office. Some were rather bemused by our mode of transport (a glorified golf buggy), others smiled and waved, and three boys and a dog raced us on our way - they were winning until one of the boys slipped and by the time he had dusted himself off (uninjured I might add) we were off into the distance undeterred from our mission.
The dazzling array of colours – greens, coppers, yellows and browns punctuated by fiery reds – kept us riveted and the camera flashing as we moved through Silk Wood.
We weren’t at all disappointed when we reached our destination and in fact, were a little surprised at just how peaceful it was, despite the number of visitors. Rotary Glade looked so amazing I’m not even going to try and describe it but will let the photo below do all the talking…
Although, there were a couple of surprises, including a BBC film crew that had managed to get stuck in the mud...
...and a magical circle of mushrooms!
The journey back included a quick tree identification lesson on the difference between a beech tree and a hornbeam, an unexpected papparazzi shot of the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum team and an interesting fact…the beautiful beech trees on the downland get their very tidy haircuts by the cattle that graze there.
Excursion complete, we headed back to the Great Oak Hall, feeling refreshed and re-inspired by our surroundings. We should definitely do it again some time!
Thanks to Bev Starkings from the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum membership team for taking the lovely photographs in this blog.
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