Saltram Park

One of my favourite places in Plymouth is the National Trust owned Saltram.  Up until the beginning of this month you could park free in the grounds and only had to pay to enter the gardens surrounding Saltram House.  As National Trust members we did not have to pay and we frequently walk around the gardens where there is always something of interest to see.  Since the beginning of April it has cost £2 to park in the grounds, but it is still a lovely large area to walk around.

Most people walk down to the river Plym, wallk along this and then up the other side of the house.  There are proper paths the whole way around, and you just have to watch out for children, cycles and dogs.  Early in the year there are  masses snowdrops on the path towards Marsh Mills and other clumps scattered around the path.

A less popular walk is to walk towards Stag Lodge then turn down into the woods which leads down to the River Plym.  This path is not so good and mainly used by dog walkers.  Along this path there are bluebells in late April/May and  rhododendrums.

Radford Woods

Stepping Stones to Nature put on their facebook feed that there were bluebells out in Radford Wood.  I had recently seen that these woods had been designated as a local nature reserve so decided it was a good time to visit.

We parked in White Lady Road and the entrance to the nature reserve was easy to find.  Friends of Radford Wood have made a Fairy Trail to entertain children and we found the first board for this.  For details see  http://www.radfordwoods.co.uk/.  We planned to follow the Erme-Plym Trail until Radford House, but there were no signs and we followed the path until we came to the end of the wood and then made our way up the hill and ended up coming down to the bottom path again.  From the map it looked as if we had to take a path through houses but we could not see where we should go.

There were bluebells out in the wood, but not enough to make a carpet of blue, it was more like a blue haze.  No doubt there will be a better show in a few weeks time.

Wild Garlic

At times the paths were good, with some board walks,  although in other places it was rather wet and rough.  From the Friends of Radford Woods website I learnt that Radford Woods consists of Buddle Woods, Jennyscombe Wood, Barn Wood, Brixtonhard Plantation and Basinghall Plantation.  As far as we could tell we only walked in Buddle Wood.  It would have been good if there was clear signage so we could explore all parts of the Wood.

Whitleigh and Cann Woods

I had heard that the were bluebells in Cann Wood, and as they were coming into flower I thought I would see what sort of display there was in these woods in Plymouth.

We had difficulty finding an entrance to Cann Woods, we drove around the outskirts of the wood in Whitleigh but could not find any entrance.  We continued driving on to the other side of the wood and eventually found an entrance in Tamerton Foliot.

We were a little disappointed with Cann Wood, particularly as we compared it to Ham Woods which we had visited the day before.  The paths were not particularly good and there were no signs.  To begin with there did not seem to be much of interest to see, but we eventually came to bluebells, but they were not yet in flower.

An occasional bluebell out in Whitleigh Woods

There was no sign to indicate when we walked from Can Wood to Whitleigh Wood, we assume it was where there was signs of a entrance, that had broken down.  At the far end of Whitleigh Woods there were loads of bluebell plants.  There was an occasional one just coming out into flower. I can see that in a few weeks time this wood would look spectacular.  It is a pity that there did not appear to be any parking near this part of the woods.

Having walked along one edge of both Cann Woods and Whitleigh Woods we climbed up the hill and walked back.  We continued as far as we could, the had to turn back until we found a reasonable path down to to the bottom.  It is a pity there were not any maps or direction signs in these woods.

The Plymouth Council website state that there is a cycle route through these woods, I think this would be a very rough ride for cyclists.  It also states there are benches but we did not see any all the time we were walking.

Ham Woods

We were looking after our grandchildren so thought we would take them to explore  Ham Woods.   Plymouth Council website stated

"Ham Woods covers 35.9 hectares - that's about 36 full-sized football pitches!

Sited in a steep valley, it is a lovely place to walk, play and relax. More than 200 species of plants and almost 80 species of birds have been recorded within the woods, a great place to enjoy and learn about nature."

With one grandchild in a buggy we needed accessible paths, and enough to keep a 5 year old interested in nature.  We were not disappointed. There were good paths and clear signs, with information boards at several places. I had been able to download a map from the internet so  my grandson could follow where we were walking.  There were lots of flowers and we spotted several birds.  I gave my grandson my camera and he enjoyed photographing flowers, trees and even a robin.

Masses of calendines

Good signposts

Robin in a tree

We walked the whole length of the nature reserve, which was the blue and red route.  This took us an hour, which was what the signs told us.  It was a very pleasant walk with the stream running through the site.

Central Park

Since moving to Plymouth three years ago I have appreciated the beautiful countryside surrounding this city. I have recorded most of the places I have visited in my blog Life in Plymouth, http://exploringplymouthsurroundings.blogspot.co.uk/.  Generally I don't travel more than an hour from home, but I have come to realise I don't have to go even this far to find green spaces.   I was surprised to learn from the Plymouth Council website  that a third of Plymouth is green spaces.  They list all the parks, county wildlife sites, local nature reserves, sites of special scientific interest and other green spaces. I decided to explore all these special places during 2014.

The nearest park to my home is Central Park, which is the largest park in Plymouth.  In 2013 I documented the wildlife there through the year in my blog Central Park Plymouth, http://centralparkplymouth.blogspot.co.uk/.  There is certainly a lot of variety in this Park and always something interesting to see

Snowdrops in Central Park in February

Daffodils in March

Bluebells in May

Cherry Trees in Pounds Park, Central Park

Rhododendrums in May

Azelias and Rhododendrums in June