As I can more usually be found sat in-front of a computer screen maintaining the bluebellwalk website it’s always a pleasure when I get my first chance to visit the actual Wood in bluebell season. Although today was only a brief stroll along the shortest of the walks it brought an ideal opportunity to witness the living wood responding to a change in the weather.

Being fairly early in the season, the bluebells were only about a third out and still happy to share the floral glory with that early star, the white wood anemone. The view of this two-tone flooring nestling around the coppiced tree trunks in the sun was delightfully understated and offered just a barely perceptible but refreshing fragrance. However, later in the afternoon, when the forecast rain shower did indeed arrive, I hurried back and practically dived into the Woods once more.

Taking a deep breath I inhaled the scent that could now almost be seen rising from the woodland floor. Galvanized, it seems, by the caress of the raindrops, the fragrance was so much more intensive than it had been just an hour earlier! There was something almost comforting about the aroma, sheltering beneath the canopy of trees, listening to the diminishing echo of raindrops as they were diffused on their path down through the branches and leaves.

The wood has this effect of creating a microclimate of tranquility that is difficult to tear yourself away from. But the computer called and I retreated home to investigate a way of simplifying and yet intensifying the website experience, inspired by the Wood itself!

Tim

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