Take the Free Daffodil Shuttle from Newent this March to explore the Heart of the Golden Triangle. Or explore on foot with our Daffodil Line Walks Book,
Betty Daw’s Wood
Natural woodland previously coppiced for charcoal, Betty Daw’s Wood is the site of one of the longest running Forestry Commission nest box schemes in the country and as well as a splendid display of daffs you may see many species of birds including flycatcher, dunnock, thrush and tree creeper – there are also dormice – though you won’t see them!
Gwen and Veras Field
Along with Betty Daw’s the identity of Gwen and Vera is now shrouded in the mists of time – they may have lived in Wain Cottage next to the fields, but we can’t be sure. Gwen and Vera’s Fields are Glos WT-managed wildflower meadows with ancient plum and cherry trees, and orchard hedging to the edges. When the daffs have finished they will be followed by a succession of native wildflowers right through to autumn crocus. There is an abundance of birdlife to be seen here, and paths to Greenways wood and Betty Daw’s
Shaw Common
One of the UK’s most important Sessile Oak plantations, up to 20 tonnes of acorns are harvested here in a good year (2024) and sold through national tree seed nurseries with the provenance of Dymock oak – the trees planted here in 1860 are sought after as England’s most valued oak beams. Best hotspot in Britain for woodland daffodils, followed by carpets of windflowers and bluebells. With climate change ripening the ‘chequers’ fruits the Common is becoming a valuable seed source for Wild Service trees.
Hay Wood & Little Hay Wood
Hay Pitch is a charming ridge-top road running through to Gorsley with wide daffodil verges maintained by Forestry England in co-ordination with GCC Highways. These are registered as Conservation Road Verges and form a transition area between the two habitats of ancient woodland and daffodil meadow true wildlife corridors. And they allow you to enjoy a splendid display of daffs from the comfort of the bus. The forest roads allow a circular walk with ease between the three gates…
Oxenhall Wood
As well as great daffodil displays Oxenhall Wood offers the best stretch of The Daffodil Way for avoiding mud on wet weather walks. A kilometre of stoned footpath was re-surfaced in 2018, with kissing gates at each end; the western end arrives in Kempley via a magnificent avenue of veteran perry trees. Oxenhall Wood is shortly due to be thinned, you will see the bright orange markings, tthis to allow more light through the canopy for ground flora and return the ancient forest to a naturally regenerating state.
The Centenary Glade & Spiral Maze
In 2019, to mark the centenary of the founding of the Forestry Commission at the end of WWI, community volunteers came together to plant 600 trees to form the Centenary Glade in Upton Bishop Parish access is from the FE carpark and information boards at Queens Wood. 150m down the path beyond the large felled beech tree, you come to the spiral maze planted with 100 Wild Service trees with at its centre a secret daffodil meadow to discover.
Kempley Daffodil Meadow SSSI
Matthews Farm has managed the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for almost 40 years. The meadow with its outstanding displays of wildflowers is maintained by traditional grazing methods with livestock removed between late January and August each year. Please do not enter this private property – but you should be able to see the generations of seedlings up to the flowering clumps.
Beauchamp Bank
In the centre of Dymock the road bank near the Beauchamp Arms pub has been the subject of a biodiversity restoration project in the last year – and we all wait in anticipation to see how many of the 600 wild daffodil bulbs that were re-planted come through.
Vell Mill
Just outside the village of Dymock, across the River Leadon, Vell Mill is one of the best surviving daffodil meadows in the county, managed by Glos WT in the traditional way and with a new heritage varieties orchard planted in 2011. This is a wet meadow, which floods when the Leadon is in spate, more often now with the flash rain storms and drainage from the Dymock Forest streams.
Motorway Bridges
The M50 bisects the Golden Triangle and you will surely cross it on your travels. Take a moment to look down and admire the banks where many wild daffodils are left free to flower and spread each year.
Dymock Village
St Mary’s Dymock (C13th) is open throughout March with a lunchtime music festival on Mondays. It hosts a permanent display on the Dymock Poets – the WW1 poets including Robert Frost and Edward Thomas. Refreshments are offered 11-3 daily. The churchyard offers good displays of daffodils.
On the 8th & 9th March Dymock Daffodil Weekend the parish hall is open for refreshments and stalls, a Marquee on Wintours Green hosts displays and talks, there will be free guided walks, and of course the Beauchamp Arms is open both days.
Kempley Village
15 & 16 March: Celebrating 50 years of Daffodil Weekend enjoy refreshments in the village hall along with plant sales and a barbeque, displays and craft stalls in St Edwards Church.
St Mary’s Kempley
Our Free Daffodil Shuttle takes you right to this amazing 13th century frescoed church surrounded by truly stunning displays of native daffodils in the English Heritage Trust’s King’s Meadows – designated at King Charles’ coronation..
Oxenhall Village
22 & 23 March, enjoy teas and stalls in the village hall, displays in the fascinating St Anne’s Church and a range of free guided walks through the weekend. Though St Anne’s is a busy working church the churchyard still offers great daffodil displays. Now a sleepy hamlet, Oxenhall was once an industrial hub for coal, iron, charcoal and timber – trasnported on the canal which is now under renovation by the Hereford and Gloster canal trust.
For more information see: www.daffodilline.co.uk/daffs25.
Thanks To:
This year’s free Daffodil Shuttles are brought to you thanks to financial support from Herefordshire Council, Gloucestershire County Council and Forest of Dean District Council. Thanks also go to Chris Bligh of DyFRA for support, guidance and an amazing depth of ecological and historical information.
