Box wood is twenty-five acres of glorious woodland covered with a carpet of wild garlic flowers during the mid-two weeks of May. This site differs slightly from the others I’ve written about as there isn’t a circular path through the site – the footpath is one-way leading from Box village down through the wood to the Avening road. The big plus about visiting Box wood, though, is the choice of not one but two fab eating places, one at each end of the wood: the Halfway cafe sitting on the edge of Box village with its views over Minchinhampton Common and incredible cakes, and the Weighbridge Inn at the other end on the Avening road and its delicious speciality, the ‘2 in 1’ pie.
Continue reading “Wonderful wild garlic woods: 2 – Box wood near Minchinhampton”
At this time of year, bleubell woods seem to be everywhere you turn – and that’s one of the (many) wonderful things about living in the Stroud district. Standish woods near Randwick village is one of the most popular woods around Stroud for a bluebell experience – partly thanks to the stunning views down the Severn Estuary, the flat path along the top of the wood, the good parking and the ice-cream van.
The noticeably lengthening days are letting a little ray of sunshine break into my winter grey gloom, but the thing that really cheers me up is a wander through Conygre Wood near Kingscote village. During February, the woodland floor hosts carpets of snowdrops along with a lovely cheerful flower called winter aconite. The latter is a little, bright yellow flower which opens up in the sunlight creating a patch of mini-suns shining back at that elusive ball of fire which we don’t see enough at this time of year.
