Bluebells in April

I love bluebells in case you haven't already known ;) My friend Gabby reckons it's because it has 'bel' in it. It is also the surest sign of spring when you start to see blankets of purplish blue appear in the woods. I get an indication when I see a few pop up in our garden - no idea how they got here but happy to have them!

I started researching on the best places around us to see bluebells and in past years we had been to a few places, one of which was Emmetts Gardens in Sevenoaks, Kent. This to me was one of the best places to see bluebells. Another place on my list was Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, also in Sevenoaks and so I proposed to visit it this year for the bluebells. These are paid entry places although if you do come across some ancient woodland you probably can see them for free. Problem is, I don't know any ancient woodland around our place that has big patches of these beauties.

Riverhill Himalayan Gardens

We ventured into the woodland section in search of the bluebells. There was also a garden part which we would visit afterwards. It was also the bluebell festival ongoing that weekend so you can be sure everyone went there for the bluebells.

The woodland area was so steep we couldn't bring our pushchair up with us. K groaned and whined whilst pushing our chunky bear uphill. Eventually we decided to let Gabriel walk and leave the pushchair at the foot of the hill. It was also more fun for Gabriel to walk and explore! He loves picking stones and gravel as we soon found out. Izzy on the other hand was busy looking for sticks to make a fire.

They even had a "yeti" hiding in the trees for kids to find. A bit scary in my view to see a white figure floating amongst the trees haha but yes we found it and he waved to the kids from behind the trees, because social distancing. Even yetis are not spared from Covid19 you know.

Pictures taken, I was one happy Bel. The kids played at the playground for a little before we went downhill towards the garden section. I always love to wander into the garden shop of such places to see plants and other cute stuff. Too bad we missed the Bluebell Craft Fair as I didn't know they closed an hour earlier than the gardens. We hung around and the kids played on the boat swing.

Emmetts Gardens

This drive was worth it!

I was one greedy Bel this year in my quest for bluebells. I contemplated on bringing the kids by myself to Emmetts Gardens on a weekday morning, before Izzy's school. I follow all these places of my interest on social media and so I know when they are still in bloom, and if it is a good time to go. I knew that if I didn't go soon, with the bad weather forecast for that week, the bluebells won't be waiting for me. So it's now or never. I gamely bought a timed entry ticket for the Wednesday after our Riverhill outing. K laughed and said I was a bit mad, but since he's not involved in the driving, he's happy to let me decide if I wanna go. "Yes I'll do it!" I said. So we had a quick breakfast and I put two kids in the back of the car and off I went. The drive was smooth and it took me about 40-45min to get there. Towards the end where it was small country lanes, I started to get nervous especially when there is another vehicle following me closely behind.

We got there safely, though a little later than I hoped but it's ok. Izzy took a copy of the map and we followed the trail. Woweee when we saw a glimpse of the bluebells, a silent nod of "yes" went off in me. This was the right place to come. It's beautiful. It was a weekday morning and so it was quiet. The only people we saw were retired people - couples, friends all here to admire the same thing. We all nodded, smiled and said good morning to one another politely. Many smiled at the kids and said hi.

We had to leave after 1.5h to drive back to London as Izzy's school was to start at 1230pm. A bit of a rush! I gave them sandwiches to eat in the back of the car whilst I drove. A bit of heart palpitation as I was worried she would be late for school, but whew! We got there just in time. Very glad I did this little morning trip with the kids with lovely memories captured in my camera.