Sarah’s Bluebell walk – Saturday 29th April

Pictures and story contributed by Sarah.

Six  people and two dogs joined me on this rather damp day to see the bluebells. I enjoy leading my annual bluebell walk, partly because it means I only have to walk down the road from my house to start it! However the main reason is because I enjoy showing IOG’ers a part of Ipswich that lots do not know about. Only one person who joined the walk had been on one of my bluebell walks before, so this was new territory for most.

We headed out via footpaths through to Belstead and then across to Tattingstone, where we picked up the very top end of Alton Water. After a quick refuel and refreshment stop by Lemon Hill Bridge, we headed towards Jimmy’s Farm for our lunch stop. We appeared to have timed this fairly well, as this is when we saw the worst of the rain, while we were able to shelter for a while. We then headed off across the railway line and over the A14 to pass through Spring Wood, where there was a beautiful array of bluebells. Spring Wood is an ancient woodland, shown on maps dating back 1676. After admiring the bluebells, and taking the usual group photo, we headed back through Belstead Brook Park to our start point.