Walking East Stoke's lanes this February

What is it they say about best laid plans?

Yes, well here we are more than a month after my first post in this series and a bit later than intended, and a lot wetter than I’d like - so that meant we didn’t get to walk the Red Gutter at all this month.

Though we did get to walk along the bridleway to Elston for a fantastic Sunday lunch, so it’s not all bad. And as well as a roast spud or two (on my plate) there was lichen along the way, which is always a win for me!

AN EARLY FEBRUARY CARPET OF SNOWDROPS

And just as we approached the village I spotted a carpet of early February snowdrops alongside us in a small wooded area. An absolute joy - in our London life we would spot some in the garden, but to see anything on this scale we’d need to take ourselves off to either a National Trust garden or a woodland a car journey away, so it was quite the treat.

FIELDS ALONGSIDE MOOR LANE

MOOR LANE

In fact looking back to the view from the bridge in last month’s post, I think it’s higher - I told you it felt like it’d been a wet, wet month.

MOOR LANE

MOOR LANE

Later in the month we walked Moor Lane again and noticed some work in progress to lay hedging - I’m guessing this is a job that’s not done every year given the size of the trunks that have been cut and laid, and is a way of maintaining the land. Part way along willow had been weaved at the top of the stakes, which I’m sure brings strength and structure to the newly laid hedges.

MOOR LANE

This month we also walked turned off Moor Lane towards Thorpe walking along Main Street which brought a much welcomed pop of colour - which was much needed in a dull month.

MAIN STREET

MAIN STREET

We walked through Thorpe and out the other side, turning around shortly after this photo of a not-so-recently fallen tree, which is clearly making the most of its new surroundings and outlook on life, something I’m sure many of us can relate to too!

MAIN STREET

This month the skies have been large, they’ve been grey but increasingly blue in the breaks in the rain - and as the month went on, more and more blossom appeared in the hedgerows - it really is nature’s way of letting you know there’s something better around the corner isn’t it?

MUCH PRETTIER THAN THE A46

This pretty white - and most likely blackthorn blossom - seemed to turn the hedgerows frothy as the month continued, and it’s way more prettier than a view of the A46 as we once again walked along the bridleway to Elston. I’m hoping for a drier few months ahead, I’ll let you know how that worked out soon…

It wasn’t until the end of the month that we walked down School Lane to the River Trent. And boy did we choose a spectacular day for that - pink blossom, blue skies and actual warmth from the sun. You could be fooled into thinking it really was spring, but I think it was most likely ‘fools spring’ as it didn’t last.

SCHOOL LANE

CHURCH LANE

CHURCH LANE - A FIELD, NOT THE RIVER

CHURCH LANE - STILL A FIELD NOT THE RIVER TRENT (SURPRISINGLY)

The photos above taken just past the church on Church Lane show just how wet February was - these puddles - and that seems a complete under-description, are or were fields. Instead they looked as if a new river had formed a mile or so away from the Trent - but it was great to capture the cloud’s reflection in one of them.

The ditches alongside Church Lane were also still full, though slightly less photogenic.

CHURCH LANE

Looking over towards Fiskerton this month it’s clear to see that the Trent has not yet returned to its previous course, and the water is even more inland than it was in January. I’m sure many people will be wondering when and if, it will.

LOOKING OVER TOWARDS FISKERTON

Thanks for joining me this month, I’ll be sharing the next instalment around the third week of the month, but in the meantime if you enjoyed this post you may also like some previous series where I revisit the same place - there’s my year in Greenwich Park and remember that time when I followed a tree?

Enjoying blue skies and a peek at Norwood Park's gardens

Last week I spotted that Norwood Park was holding a series of Open Garden Tuesdays as part of the National Garden Scheme, knowing that these events get booked up quickly, I grabbed a spot on their first opening date. I’ve looked again today, and registration for the Tuesdays is now closed but the grounds and gardens are opening on the first Sunday of the month for the remainder of 2024 - I’d recommend booking early if you’re planning to go along to this, or any other NGS Open Garden event.

We were lucky with the weather for our visit - it’s been a wet winter in this part of the country, and a blowy one too, so it was great to feel the warmth of the sun on our back, its glint in our eyes and enjoy the blue skies.

Norwood Park is ‘an exclusive private country estate in Southwell’ which has been restored and is billed as ‘the perfect venue for; weddings, corporate retreats, private celebrations, short stays, filming and photoshoots, plus so much more’ on its website. And I agree it would be a perfect setting for a wedding.

It was also good to spot our first camellia bush of the season, and a pretty pink one at that. In our previous house we had an on-off relationship with our own camellia guessing when it might flower, which was usually months after that of our neighbours - and I’d both forgotten and missed that this year - perhaps I should add a reliably flowering camellia to our own garden.

I’m a sucker for dried hydrangea heads though, and it was no different with these - and they instantly reminded me of the ones I saw a good few years back at Blickling in Norfolk, though with an added pop of colour provided by the miniature daffodils.

I had a wry smile to myself when I saw the daffodils above trying their hardest (and mostly succeeding) to push their way through the lavender bush - that’s the thing with bulbs, they just want to grow don’t they? I’m hoping that my own ‘late to the pot’ daffodils are just as happy in their pots as they were in their nets in the garage - only time will tell!

Both the terraces in front of the house and the views beyond were worth the visit, and even from the outside you can see just how well this would work for a wedding venue - picturesque grounds, the bandstand for the ceremony and plenty of spaces for the guests and the wedding party to enjoy throughout the day. We didn’t go inside, but from the chandeliers I glimpsed through the window, I think that will be pretty special too.

I did spot some young lupins, and while they reemerge in spring it did feel kind of early. They’re another favourite of mine, but one that I didn’t have much joy with in our previous garden, I think because of the number of trees, and snails too I’m sure. It was good to see these though, and the drops of water they were hanging onto in their centre.

On one side of the terrace I was drawn to a planting of trees, some of which looked they were ‘alight’ with the sun streaming through them - how glorious? I was very taken with these and later learnt they were paperback maples, so well named!

Next we headed through woodland towards the temple, passing pine cones at eye level, plentiful snowdrops growing in the grass and walking through the tall trees - many of which looked as if they had plenty of mistletoe balls taking up lodging.

My mistletoe suspicions were confirmed later in our walk around the grounds, as this much smaller tree was also playing host - though I can’t help but think that the mistletoe was a little bit lazier than the ones we’d seen before, or maybe it was just more vain and wanted to be in a position to be admired.

This European Chesnut tree also looked magnificent in the sun, helped too by the green moss colouring some of its stripes - it really was quite striking.

Heading back towards the gardens we stopped to admire this old gnarly tree, which if you look more closely you’ll see its crown is covered in what looks like lead. We presume to stop any further damage to it, but I’m not sure. It did make for a peculiar sight, though I’m sure when the tree is in leaf it’s hardly noticeable at all.

But just look at those skies, spring really is on its way.

Walking East Stoke's lanes this January

I’ve been contemplating a new monthly series to share more about the countryside where we now live since we moved here last July, but starting in January appealed for its neatness, though as you’ll note it’s most of the way through February now so it’s taken me a little while to percolate my thoughts and come up with a plan for this new series, and not unsurprisingly edit the photos!

It’ll also be a way for me to learn about where we live, and see how it changes throughout the year - moving from London to the country has already been a big learning curve in so many ways, and it’ll be great to have clarity about things (almost) as they happen, so expect a photo heavy post.

But anyway, in the short time we’ve been here we’ve already found some walks from our doorstep heading off out of the village in various directions - and it’s from our walks along these lanes that I’ll share pictures from.

We started our New Year with a walk that was very different to that of the past twenty or so years. No Greenwich Park for us this New Year’s Day, instead we headed down towards the River Trent, though it felt like the Trent had come up to meet us given all the water following even more rain.

CHURCH LANE

Dodging the puddles was easier than normal as hardcore had been added in many places making it much easier than previously - still a lot of water though, and I made the most of the photo opportunity with the reflections of the trees.

CHURCH LANE

It was too wet to head across the Red Gutter so instead we continued along Church Lane towards the Trent walking on what looked to be even more freshly laid hard core - we’ve walked this way since and it has bedded in much more and makes it a much more comfortable walk.

CHURCH LANE

LOOKING OVER TOWARDS FISKERTON

We didn’t get to the river pathway, there was too much water - as you can see in the photo above, the river was way over where it would normally be - definitely a case of the water having nowhere to go other than the flood plain. Heading back the way we came, the skies treated us to quite a display.

A couple of weeks later we headed back along the same route, and it was good to see the water had receded even though the ground was still ‘soft’ - not being much of a fan of mud I didn’t get quite as close as before for the photo. And yes, I had walking boots on, and I’m much better with mud when wearing those - I just prefer not to if I don’t have to!

LOOKING OVER TOWARDS FISKERTON TWO WEEKS LATER

The start of the month was wet, and the rain didn’t stop coming so the lanes got wetter and wetter. The water was running off the fields, and over the ditches which were already full - it had nowhere else to go and so the lanes became waterways briefly, as this picture taken by MOH shows.

MOOR LANE

And taken by MOH as I wasn’t heading out for any of that. I was persuaded out on 7 January when the lanes were clearer of the excess water, but the fields were still pretty full.

MOOR LANE

We walked to the bridge - our cut off point for turning round - but also partly to see the water levels there. Our unqualified expert view was high.

MOOR LANE

MOOR LANE

It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, the bushes on the roadside nearer to the bridge over the A46 had the most glorious lichen which was catching in the sun - and you know how much I like some lichen!

It wasn’t until almost the end of the month that I deemed the Red Gutter not too muddy to walk - I’m sure plenty of less-mud averse people walked it throughout the month, but not me.

THE RED GUTTER

The Red Gutter is a circular walk I’ll no doubt share more about here over the year, but in summary it’s where the last battle of the Wars of the Roses took place in 1847, and according to legend got its name hundreds died here attempting to escape being slaughtered at the end of the Battle of Stoke Field.

ALONGSIDE THE TRENT

Walking across the field leads to a footpath alongside the River Trent, which as you can see was a little more ‘soft’ going - but it’s not far and we were soon at Trent Lane. It’s uphill from there, and this partial seed head provided a good opportunity for a photo and a short break to catch our breath.

TRENT LANE

TRENT LANE

It’s also where I spotted what could possibly be a contender for the largest thistle in the world. Probably.

Thanks for joining me this month, I’ll be sharing the next instalment around the same time next month, but in the meantime if you enjoyed this post you may also like some previous series where I revisit the same place - there’s my year in Greenwich Park and remember that time when I followed a tree?