Monday, 17 May 2021

Exploring :: Whitacre Hall

Hi there everyone πŸ˜€

We are always on the lookout for new places to visit ... especially when on our doorstep. And if there’s a tea room involved then even better.

I can’t remember how I’d heard about Whitacre Hall. It may have been on Facebook with someone looking for a recommendation for somewhere local for afternoon tea ... I’m really not sure.

Anyway ... we’ve been meaning to try to visit probably for the last 12 months. But with lockdowns and rubbish weather it’s taken us until now to manage to get there.

I’m so pleased we didn’t forget about it or give up on the idea of going, it was a real treat.

It is only about 20 minutes from home and is literally in the middle of nowhere, tucked down a narrow country lane with no real clue of what there is to be found, until you get to the entrance where the signage declares country walks and a tea room.

The entrance to the farm is lined with the most photogenic rusty old farm machinery and I would definitely be hopping out to capture some images on the way out.

There is plenty of car parking space and entrance to the walks is through the tea room ... it costs just a £1 each to enter ...

Whilst the clouds looked pretty ominous the forecast was good so with everything crossed we paid our £1s, admired the cake, which looked amazing, and headed out ... starting with the blue route ...
This walk is about 1.5 miles long, it's nice and flat, though a little bumpy in places, well sign posted and the going was good ... no real mud at all.

Once across the bridge and into Dog Kennel Covert it was lovely ... wild flowers everywhere ... and the first bluebells I've seen outside of my own garden this year ...
We headed through the covert ...
... stopping frequently to take pictures ... white dead nettle ...
... celandine ...
... and then the most fabulous carpet of bluebells ...
The path took us out of the covert and into open farmland for a while ...
 
... before heading into Staines Covert, which is the best place for seeing bluebells ... and they were absolutely stunning ...


The path meanders through the woodland ...
... before coming back out onto more open ground, running alongside a stream lined with wild garlic ...
It really was abundant and the smell was amazing ...

The campion is just starting to make a show, but I'm guessing that will be the next big display ...
We were on the last leg ...
... and made our back through one last piece of woodland ...
... to find ourselves a spot with a view ...
... where mum and I sampled the cake and Martin opted for a sausage and egg batch ... we can happily recommend all.

We decided to leave the red route for another day and all that was left to do was for me to take a slow walk back up the drive to get a closer look at the rusty old machinery ...






... and I managed to capture my favourite shot of the day ...

I'm so glad we finally got to visit ... we will definitely be back ... I think it could easily become a favourite breakfast, lunch or tea and cake spot πŸ˜€

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2 comments:

  1. What a lovely place to get back out and about - so many gorgeous photos - love the rusty farm machinery nestled in the flowers :)

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    Replies
    1. It was a really good find Kate. We will definitely be revisiting ... the cake was amazing too πŸ˜ƒ

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