THE COUNTRY’S ABLAZE!
If you go down to the woods today, autumn’s colours will fire the imagination and stir the soul
With darkening days upon us, nothing can warm the spirit like autumn’s fiery hues — and seldom have the colours been as bright than in this blockbuster year. After months of grim pandemic news, now is the time to reconnect with the glories of nature on a day out or a household getaway. here are the some of the best places to bask in the UK’s changing colours . . .
ANCIENT GLORIES
PARTS of 41-acre tyrrel’s Wood, in south Norfolk, date from 1251. it’s great for children to explore, with a high canopy above a toffee-coloured carpet of lime, oak, hazel and ash leaves. DON’T MISS: Likely den-building spots. STAY: A three-night stay at Whitehands Farm Barn is £432, based on six sharing (01244 356695, sykescottages.co.uk).
COLOURFUL CUMBRIA
ON A still morning, the mist swirls over glassy Buttermere as the pines on the south bank turn slowly ochre. An amble around the lake takes about two hours. DON’T MISS: Soul-lifting views from 1,958 ft fell haystacks. STAY: Doubles with breakfast at Wood house, Buttermere, cost from £ 132 ( 01768 770208, woodhousebuttermere.uk).
YORKSHIRE GOLD
FOLLOW the dragonflies along Pocklington Canal, south-east of York, and enjoy the sight of old willows and reddening hedgerows on the hillsides. Clock up the miles on foot or see it all from a kayak. DON’T MISS: Barn owls on the neighbouring nature reserve. STAY: Forest lodge Rufus’s Roost, near York, sleeps six and costs from £300 a night (0117 2047830, canopyandstars.co.uk).
CORNISH DELIGHTS
WADE through the tawny- coloured bracken on a wild stretch of Penwith moorland. Cut south from Men- an-tol at Madron, passing neolithic stones and abandoned mineshafts: views of St Michael’s Mount await. DON’T MISS: Photo-opportunities by the Bronze Age stones. STAY: Coastal holiday cottage ty Bryn sleeps five and costs from £ 514 a week ( 01326 331399, cornishcottageholidays.co.uk).
MELLOW YELLOW
BIRCH trees on the hills behind the stone-built Perthshire town of Aberfeldy inspired Robert Burns when he visited in 1787. take a copy of Rabbie’s song the Birks Of Aberfeldy and stride upstream to enjoy the Falls of Moness, Loch tay and miles of flaxen birches. DON’T MISS: Seeing moosewood and Chinese juniper. STAY: the Fonab Castle hotel, with doubles from around £200 (01796 470140, fonabcastlehotel.com).
SOUTHERN SHADES
IN THE New Forest, a short drive from Lyndhurst takes you to the Knightwood Oak trail, where the shades of tangerine, russet and chestnut deepen with every step. DON’T MISS: the ‘ Queen of the Forest’, a 500-year-old oak with a 24 ft girth. STAY: At the Old Chapel in Sway for £70 a night B&B (01590 683382, oldchapelsway.co.uk).
BELTING BELTON
RUBY creepers, ripening quinces and tall lime trees are all seasonal sights at 17th- century National trust property Belton house. DON’T MISS: Nottingham medlar trees behind the Orangery. STAY: the four-star Belton Woods resort has B&B doubles from £88 (01476 593 200, beltonwoods.co.uk).
WILTSHIRE WOW
KING Alfred’s tower, a 160ft 18th- century folly at Stourhead, was designed so banker henry hoare ii could admire the deciduous drama across Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset. With diverse woodland, it is still a marvellous sight to behold. DON’T MISS: A return via the lake, where the Pantheon is framed perfectly by a yellow buckeye tree. STAY: B&B doubles at the White Lion inn from £90 (01747 840866, whitelionbourton.co.uk).
SUSSEX GLORY
At DEViL’S Dyke, five miles north of Brighton, purple reigns supreme thanks to the flowering ‘Devil’s-bit scabious’ that cloaks the hills. DON’T MISS: iron Age ramparts, old chalk pits and buzzards flying over Wolstonbury hill. STAY: the Bull, in Ditchling, has doubles from £99 (01273 843147, thebullditchling.com).
WELSH WONDERS
WHEN he was asked in 1775 how the bucolic grounds of Dinefwr’s Newton house should look, society gardener Capability Brown replied ‘natural’. Although Wales’s ‘firebreak’ lockdown is planned to last until November 9, 21st- century visitors can see what Brown created as some 300 mature trees explode into colour. DON’T MISS: Newton house itself, which dates to the 1660s. STAY: the Cawdor, in Llandeilo, dates from 1765 and has rooms from £ 105 ( 01558 823500, thecawdor.com).