Wakehurst Place, autumn 2018

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We went to Wakehurst Place on 16 October 2018. Wakehurst Place is located in the heart of Sussex, owned by the National Trust and managed by the Kew Garden. We took the train to Haywards Heath from Victoria and took the bus to Crawley.



It was lunch time we arrived; so we had a picnic lunch. It was quite warm and sunny; we could see lots of leaves that had turned autumnal colours – gold, red, orange and yellow – and these leaves were falling on the ground little by little.



We decided to walk down to woodland via Pinetum and Himalayan Glade. There were various shapes of pine trees, conifers grown on Pinetum. On foot of trees we found vivid y red mushrooms – they look bright under the blue sky, although they were poisonous ones.



As we walked past Himalayan Glade, the down slope led us to the Westwood Lake. As we as coloured leaves, there were myriads of chestnut and acorns on the ground; there were couple of people who were picking up chestnuts. We explored Lader Valley Reserve following the boarded walk. A number of waterfowls, e.g. ducks, coots, goose, were swimming; autumnal coloured leaves and ever green trees, brownish ferns reflected on the water. It was lovely to see these spectacular views from the footpath.



Wakehurst Place is managed by the Kew and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and possesses a wide variety of species of shrubs and trees which have been originated from different parts of the world – sub-arctic to tropical climate zone. We admired lofty trees like redwood or sequoia and very well-preserved ancient oaks which roots were grown healthily on the rocks in the Rock Walk.



There were quite a few botanists working in the laboratories and office; we saw these people from the reception room.



We popped to the Walled Garden behind the mansion. There were lots of colourful flowers, e.g. dahlias, asters blooming. We also strolled through the Water Gardens and admired colourful foliage on the trees and shrubs and these autumnal leaves were floating down on the banks of the winding river – they created very colourful carpets on the ground.

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Photos

down slope
We were walking towards the lake

autumnal scene
Autumnal leaves were floating down on the banks of the river on the Water Garden.

Comments

[Mary Goddard]

Wakehurst Place
We wish that we could visit this delightful place, but it is great to see your photos , and read about it