Category: #rural

May Photos: Downs Bank and Biddulph Grange Gardens

I have been catching up with my processing of photos taken earlier this year. For this post I am showing some springtime photos taken in May at Downs Bank and Biddulph Grange Gardens; both National Trust properties.

Downs Banks is a hillside woodland with pleasant paths, some steep and gravelly, through the woods and lovely views across the adjacent farmland:

A woodland path at Downs Bank with exposed tree roots creating trip hazards
A panoramic view across the farmland adjacent to Downs Bank
A long ‘dead hedge’ at Downs Bank – these are getting quite common at many places we visit
Another woodland path at Downs Bank – I think this is quite an atmospheric view showing the accessibility and quite beauty of the place

It is interesting to compare the paths at Downs Bank (above) with the paths at Biddulph Grange (below).

Biddulph Grange Gardens is part of an old Country Estate. Most of the grange building is private apartments (leaving a few places for tea rooms, offices etc.) with land outside the gardens being a country park managed by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. We just visited the gardens:

A view of the Grange from the long path of Wellingtonia Avenue
Lovely pink tulips in the garden
A view of the Cheshire Cottage from the path through the Pinetum
The Chinese-style bridge over the pond by the Temple

Two pleasant places that we regularly visit.