{"id":57,"date":"2022-05-09T14:30:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T13:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ldlh.cottage-search.com\/blog\/?p=57"},"modified":"2022-08-16T14:24:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T13:24:46","slug":"6-gorgeous-bluebell-walks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/6-gorgeous-bluebell-walks\/","title":{"rendered":"6 gorgeous bluebell walks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Bluebells are one of our most beautiful native flowers, and are in flower during May here in the Lakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll begin to spot the gorgeous blue or purple haze spreading like wildfire around our woodlands and hillsides. Here&#8217;s a selection of bluebell walks in Cumbria to enjoy.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Did you know?&#8230;&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Britain hosts <strong>one third<\/strong> of all the bluebells in the <strong>world!<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>As it&#8217;s a little bit cooler up north, we tend to get our bloom a little bit later in the year, so <strong>early May<\/strong> onwards is perfect for enjoying &#8216;the blues&#8217; ..<\/li>\n<li>Our insects love them and you&#8217;ll see <strong>butterflies and bees<\/strong> buzzing around collecting nectar from their heady scent.<\/li>\n<li>There are two types of wild bluebell: the native or <strong>British bluebell,<\/strong> (Hyacinthoides non-scripta for those latin students amongst you) and the <strong>Spanish bluebell<\/strong> (Hyacinthoides hispanica), which is also found across much of Britain, and a hybrid. The third is a cross-pollination of the two.<\/li>\n<li>The Spanish variety grows faster than our native bluebell, bringing with it a risk of cross-pollination which could endanger the British Bluebell.<\/li>\n<li>The British bluebells are a very deep purple, whereas the Spanish are lighter in colour and sometimes are white or pink.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Get out and about and enjoy this <strong>carpet of nature<\/strong>, but do treat them delicately as they are very crushable &#8211; so enjoying them from a distance on your bluebell walk, taking photos and leaving them intact for others to see is the perfect way to enjoy bluebells.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Rannerdale, near Buttermere<\/h2>\n<p>Locally this is one of the most well-known site for bluebells. The fell-sides carry a blue haze for a few gorgeous weeks in early May. Folklore tells that this is the site of a battle where native Cumbrians and Norsemen ambushed and defeated Norman armies in the century after they came to Britain in 1066.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaltrust.org.uk\/buttermere-valley\/trails\/buttermere-to-rannerdale-walk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">easy bluebell walk<\/a> that gives you views of 3 lakes, returning via the shoreline to Crummock Water. Please don&#8217;t wander through the blooms, but enjoy them from the path, as once they&#8217;re crushed, they start to die.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2018\/05\/Buttermere-old-thorn-tree-at-Rannerdale.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"350\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>2. Rydal and Grasmere<\/h2>\n<p>Simply drive along the A591 from Ambleside to Grasmere, and you&#8217;ll see them in the woodlands on either side of the road. Walks from <strong>White Moss Common<\/strong> Car park are the best places to start your bluebell amble. From here you can wander up onto Loughrigg Terrace and enjoy the views.<\/p>\n<h2>3. Grizedale Forest between Coniston and Lake Windermere<\/h2>\n<p>Perfect bluebell territory and also home to lots of trails and mountain bike routes. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forestryengland.uk\/grizedale\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A brilliant day out.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>4. Muncaster Castle<\/h2>\n<p>Up in the north Lakes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.muncaster.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Muncaster<\/a> is a beautiful spot, where you&#8217;ll find the woodland above the castle swathed with the bluebells. Ruskin said that Muncaster was the &#8216;gateway to paradise&#8217; and with its views across to the coast, and gorgeous gardens its easy to see why.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_269\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-269\" class=\"wp-image-269\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2018\/05\/Muncaster-Castle.jpg\" alt=\"Muncaster Castle\" width=\"600\" height=\"282\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-269\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy of Muncaster Castle<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>5. South Lakes: Lakeside &amp; Newby Bridge.<\/h2>\n<p>There are some lovely spots where you can just view bluebells just from the roadside: If you drive up the Lakeside\/ Newby Bridge road, alongside Lake Windermere, you&#8217;ll see lots of them and into Finsthwaite, Graythwaite and Rusland parishes around this area, and further on towards Hawkshead and Sawrey, along the shores of Esthwaite Water.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1282\" style=\"width: 810px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1282\" class=\"wp-image-1282\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2018\/05\/Spr1716-1200px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bluebells at Rannerdale<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>6. Skelghyll Woods, Ambleside<\/h2>\n<p>Skelghyll Woods is just a short walk from Ambleside town centre. Its an inspiring ancient woodland is home to some of Britain&#8217;s tallest trees, including the tallest <strong>Grand Fir<\/strong> in England, and the tallest Douglas Fir in Cumbria. Managed by The National Trust look out for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationaltrust.org.uk\/ambleside\/trails\/ambleside-champion-tree-trail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Champion Tree trail <\/a>here, and a chance explore these giants. Bluebells abound here, and there are plenty of spots for a picnic.<\/p>\n<p>The dog friendly walk takes you through the woodland and up to <strong>Jenkins Crag,<\/strong> with fabulous views over Windermere. You can also wander through Stagshaw Gardens, with lots of azaleas, rhododendrons and spring blossoms to enjoy.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2018\/05\/256A1154-1200px.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>The last word goes to Emily Bronte:<\/h2>\n<p>&#8216;<strong><em>The Bluebell is the sweetest flower<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>That waves in summer air:<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Its blossoms have the mightiest power<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>To soothe my spirit&#8217;s care.&#8217;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\">Browse our Lodges here<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bluebells are one of our most beautiful native flowers, and are in flower during May here in the Lakes. You&#8217;ll begin to spot the gorgeous blue or purple haze spreading like wildfire around our woodlands and hillsides. Here&#8217;s a selection of bluebell walks in Cumbria to enjoy. Did you know?&#8230;&#8230; Britain hosts one third of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":1372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1370,1369,1371,1372],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","tag-bluebell-walks","tag-bluebells","tag-rannerdale-knots","tag-skelgyll-woods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1284,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/1284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lakedistrictlodgeholidays.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}