Serpentine Woods, Cumbria, Spring
There’s a lot going on right now.
There's a lot going on right now.
So, with another glorious spring day on the horizon, Lisabet and I booted up for a hike up the fellside of Kendal into Serpentine Woods.
In my opinion, Serpentine Woods looks its best at this time of year compared to any other. That's because the woods are filled with wild garlic, Allium ursinum. Around the middle of May the wild garlic produces a carpet of beautifully delicate white flowers and fills the air with the delicious scent of garlic.
Beyond the woods, Kendal looked spectacular in its greenery. Nature's restorative powers are not to be dismissed.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Fujinon 23mm f/2.0, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Images made 90% in-camera, with finalising in Affinity Photo.
A good route to Serpentine Woods involves walking up Kendal's steepest road, Beast Banks. Halfway up the road, a side street branches off. This is Garth Head, a medieval lane linking Beast Banks with Captain French Lane.
Everything's looking wonderfully green now.
Chinese Wisteria, Wisteria sinensis, and the old iron-wrought gate at Beech House, creating a lovely scene I had to capture.
So much green! Our route lies up and to the left.
This beautiful cottage sits right underneath Serpentine Woods. In the summer the front of the cottage explodes in flowers, and during the Christmas period it's often covered in a dazzling array of Christmas lights.
Into Serpentine Woods we go.
The woods sits on a shelf of limestone, which occasionally protrudes and creates little clearings in the woodland.
A family enjoy a wander through the woodland and its bounty of wild garlic flowers.
My favourite little area in Serpentine Woods, the "pointless" gate.
On goes my ultra-wide 9mm lens for some compositions involving some of the Storm Arwen casualties.
Getting this close to the wild garlic, the smell was intoxicating.
Out of the top of Serpentine Woods, the views over Kendal and its valley are stunning. It was nice to see plenty of families out, enjoying nature.
This bench signals our way back down the fellside.
This year's spring lambs are getting nice and fat now.
Fantastic cloud formations were building above Benson Knott, which sits above the town.
Across the Kendal valley towards the Whinfell Common and the Howgills.
To the north, the Kentmere fells look tantalisingly beautiful.
The path follows this dry stone wall all the way back down into town.
One last look back north.
Just one of many allotments in Kendal. This one seems to be home to a flock of homing pigeons.
Closer to Windermere Road and the clouds are building up.
I do love me some cloud porn.
Serpentine Woods, Cumbria, Spring
The wild garlic in Serpentine Woods has finally flowered.
The wild garlic in Serpentine Woods has finally flowered.
It’s took its sweet time, but then spring this year has been considerably colder. Nevertheless, it’s wonderful to see the woods completely carpeted in broad green leaves and delicate white flowers once again.
The weather, too, is finally starting to warm up. Perhaps summer is on its way.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using two of my prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2, and a Laowa 9mm f/2.8. Images were made 80% in-camera using a customised Classic Chrome film simulation, with minor edits afterwards in Lightroom and Affinity Photo.
The beautiful Town Hall of Kendal getting some early evening light.
One of my favourite walks up towards Serpentine Woods involves taking two flights of steep steps.
Pretty good views from the balcony of this place, eh?
One of my favourite trees in Serpentine Woods.
My heart starts to race as I waltz further into the woods, seeing all the white flowers of wild garlic everywhere.
I do love me some gnarly roots.
There we are, wild garlic flowers everywhere. I feel very fortunate to enjoy sights like this in my home town.
Compulsory shot of one of the benches available to sit at, once you pop out of the top of Serpentine Woods. Wonderful views.
Back down into the woods to find more wild garlic. The smell immediately made me hungry.
Mum and daughter enjoy the wild garlic and birdsong around my favourite spot in Serpentine Woods.
A veritable carpet of pretty white flowers, illuminated by soft evening light.
Even crawling up the fragments of limestone dotted around the woods.
Looking back at the path that leads to the “pointless gate” I love to photo so often.
Beckmickle Ing, Staveley, Lake District, Spring
It’s taken a little longer, but the bluebells have finally arrived.
It’s taken a little longer, but the bluebells have finally arrived.
After work recently, Lisabet and I hopped into the car and drove just a few miles up the A591 to Staveley, a Lake District village near Kendal. We had been recommended a walk near the village from my boss, due to the woodlands of bluebells in the area.
It did not disappoint.
The trail starts near the junction with the A591, a wooden sign points the way off the road towards the Dales Way. Just a few hundred metres down the path you enter a beautiful country lane, flanked either side by moss-covered drystone walls, with old trees providing shade to a beautiful carpet of bluebells.
Further around the hike, after crossing the footbridge near Cowan Head, you can explore arguably the showstopper of the walk: Beckmickle Ing woods (great name, btw). This wood provided Lisabet and I with one of the greatest displays of bluebells I’ve ever seen, never mind all the additional flowers such as the Wood Anemone (Anemonoides nemorosa) and finally some Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum).
For a quieter, away-from-the-crowds walk (especially in the spring), I can heartily recommend this one.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using a Samyang 35mm f/1.2 lens. The images are 85% SOOC (straight out of camera) using a customised Velvia film simulation, with some minor curve and saturation finishes in Lightroom and Affinity Photo.
The start of the trail, and a crackin’ evening to look forward.
Wonderful scenes across the valley.
Into this beautiful country lane we go, the small patch of bluebells below a signifier of things to come.
Towards the exit of this lane you’re greeted with a shock of purple below the trees. Bluebells everywhere.
Approaching Cowan Head, the light really starts to get golden.
A true spring Lakeland scene: this year’s lambs grazing underneath some crags on a hill.
After following the River Kent upstream and crossing the footbridge at Hagg Foot, we enter Beckmickle Ing woods. Already, the colours are getting considerably more verdant.
You’re always bound to fine at least one oddity in a British woodland.
A jaw-dropping scene, and Velvia did a wonderful job capturing all of colours and tones. One of the finest displays of bluebells I’ve ever seen.
Just stupendous. A veritable carpet or sea of bluebells.
After popping out of Beckmickle Ing woods we followed this minor road back towards the general direction of Staveley.
Another nearby woodland showed that, finally, wild garlic and its delicate white flowers were starting to bloom.
A much older tree, catching some sunset side light.
I loved how intense the sunset glow was on these leaves.
Back on the footpath to Staveley, a fleeting moment of strong golden light illuminates some distant trees and a barn.