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Published: November 27th 2016
We visited Winkworth Arboretum, Surrey in 2003. Our lovely memory brought us back there in 2016. We got up at 7 o’clock on 19 November, and took the train from Waterloo to Godalming. I remembered the town centre and the market hall where the market was held on Saturday morning. From the town centre we took the bus to Winkworth Arboretum.
At the reception, we showed our membership cards. We were asked if we had been there before. We said, ‘Yes, but in 2003.’ The receptionist told us that there had been a lot of changes and extension of the course over the last few years. She showed us the map and recommended that we would do the 3.6km course, challenging route, so that we would see all the attractions.
For being good at following the map, I let Mark hold the map and navigate the route. First, we followed the path for ‘access for all walk’, and took the T-junction towards Owl Bench. We found Dr Wilfred Fox Memorial in the middle of Holly Wood.
The height of the autumnal season had gone,
Memorial for Dr Wilfred Fox
Dr Wilfred Fox had great passion about plants and created the woodland gardens. He donated his collections and land to the National Trust in 1952.but colourful leaves still remained on the branches and had fallen on the ground – it offered us striking and vivid landscapes throughout our walk.
We decided to have a picnic lunch around the Owl Bench. We sat on the bench overlooking the wooded valley with the view of the lake and colourful leaves.
After the lunch we walked southwards, bearing the path along Sorbus Hill. This meandering route offered us magnificent displays of an amazing variety of shrubs and trees, as well as allowing us to see stunning views of the surrounding countryside.
We then walked down the steps and to The Bowl. There were quite a few varieties of specimens growing on The Bowl – we could see orange, red, gold and yellow coloured leaves on the branches and on the ground. Around Azalea steps there were a number of maple trees – these maple trees showed striking displays.
We popped in the Boat house – one of the features of Winkworth Arboretum – and learned about Dr Wilfred Fox and his passion about plants. He worked as a doctor during the First World War, and
after his retirement, he created the woodland garden with collections of plants and trees, and gave this land to the National Trust in 1952. The National Trust has been looking after his collections and his land, and offers stunning combinations of colour throughout the year. Spring photos showed majestic displays of azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias, bluebells – we agreed that his collections of plants and trees ‘paint a picture’ throughout the year.
We followed the footpath along the lake and then walked on the Rowe’s Flashe Meadow. We admired collections of trees along the lake – autumnal leaves reflected on the water. We also liked the view of the boat house – appearing as a flint cottage – from the distance.
After walking on the Meadow, we followed the footpath along the Phillipmore Wetlands, walked uphill and continued the footpath along Bluebell Wood, and Spring Walk. We found several different types of fungi growing on the old trunks, and took photos for the photography department at MHRA.
We climbed up the Viewing Platform and took photos of the wooded valley and the lush countryside.
The circular route brought us
Boat House
This is one of the main features of Winkworth Arboretum: there were photos and documents about Dr Wilfred fox. to the starting point. I found the clouds were getting thicker as we were finishing the walk, and whilst having snacks in the picnic area, we could hear leaves rustling and splashing and see drops of water on the ground. Like other visitors we went to the Tea Room while it was showering.
We took the 3:14 bus back to Godalming, and came back home just after 5 o’clock.
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