Hidden secrets of the Pinetum: a walking trail by Ann Waller and John Gordon

1 This walk takes you off the beaten track to discover areas of the Pinetum that are hidden House. It is now closed to the public but is used Turn left at the bottom of the hill, go from the main visitor route. The route follows a mix of paths, mainly mown grass, with to host events in the summer. 8 through the gate and turn right on the some moderately steep inclines and downward slopes, and one section of road. When you reach a surfaced path in front road. TAKE CARE ON THE ROAD. Conditions can be slippery underfoot in winter and bad weather, so please take care and 4 of you (***) turn left and follow it straight Enjoy the views of Marshal’s Lake on your make sure that you are wearing appropriate footwear. ahead uphill towards Churchill Wood right, which looks beautiful throughout You will enjoy some fine views and may discover a few secrets about Bedgebury along Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson unveiled a the year and is a popular picnic spot. Of the way. plaque at Bedgebury in 1969 naming Churchill particular note are its mass of lilies in summer Wood, honouring his family’s great name and and the spectacular tree colours reflected in Duration: 1 ½ - 2 hours celebrating the Forestry Commission’s jubilee. the lake during autumn. Distance: 3.25 miles *** At this point, you can choose to take a short Walk along the road for about 100m and detour to see our Leyland cypress hedge. 9 go through a gate on the right, back Where to start the trail… With the lake on your right, follow the into the Pinetum. Follow the surfaced Walking into the Leyland cypress hedge, 2 surfaced path downhill and round to path alongside Marshal’s Lake until reaching a planted in the 1970’s as a wind break, is like From the Visitor Centre, turn left and the right. Shortly after the bend, leave very large log on the left of the path. Then 1 entering another world! The Leyland cypress walk back up the main surfaced path the main path and walk diagonally left up bear left uphill on a grassy track (signposted is a lovely , planted in the right place… towards the car park. Take the first the grass slope towards a bench at the top of ‘Toilets’) to the top of the hill. Turn left then but let this hedge be a warning to those who turning right, pausing to look at the view of the hill. From the bench look across the lake bear right and go out of the Pinetum through a it in their garden! the lake. to the Visitor Centre. wide gate on to Park Lane. Bedgebury is owned and looked after by the Where the surfaced path bears slightly We want the Pinetum to be an attractive place to On the opposite side of the road you will Forestry Commission, which is the government 5 left towards the Walled Garden, cross visit, so we choose many of Bedgebury’s trees 10 see a wooden gate with large logs in department for woods and forests. Bedgebury a grassy strip and carry straight on into to provide interest for visitors all year round. We front of it. Go through the gate to enter is a unique mixture of two different elements: Churchill Wood, following a broad track. Where think about not just what the look like our ‘Forest Plots’ area. Follow the grassy path the track bends sharply round to the left, after a. A commercial timber forest (which also has close up, but about longer views too. This bank straight ahead to a 4-way junction. Go straight 150m, go half-right on a mown grassy path. facilities for people getting active outdoors, is particularly important because it is the main over the junction and continue in the same such as mountain bike tracks and Go Ape), view from the Visitor Centre opposite and is the This is a good area for butterflies and insects direction for about 200m to point 11. and most recently planted area of the Pinetum. in the summer. This area was badly affected Our ‘Forest Plots’ are an important b. a globally-important conifer collection: by the 1987 ‘Great Storm’. As a result, we know Walk up behind the bench (B4), conservation area. A large number of rare and the National Pinetum, which you can that this area gets battered by south westerly 3 continuing diagonally to walk on a mown endangered trees have been planted here see in front of you. Bedgebury National winds. So, when we re-planted this formerly grass path through an avenue of trees. to create five forest areas, each representing Pinetum has over 10,000 trees of which agricultural land we included big spruces to act As you come out of the trees you will enter a one of the continents where live. approximately 70% are conifers. as a windbreak to protect the rest of the trees. wide-open field with a high wall away to the These trees have been propagated from No other Forestry Commission site, or left. Continue walking ahead, bearing slightly Carry on for about 200m to the end of collected from natural populations and could anywhere else that we know of, has this right to keep along the tree line on your right. 6 the grass path and, just over a drainage be used in future to repopulate threatened combination of activities. This makes forest areas. Bedgebury is unique in planting Ahead, and in the distance, you will see ditch, turn right following the line of the Bedgebury very special! such numbers of conifers – it’s a world first Bedgebury House, the original private house ditch. After 80m, at a 4-way junction, turn So, what is a pinetum? A pinetum is a tree – and we do it to preserve as much genetic of Bedgebury estate. The house and land hard left and then, after another 80m, follow collection that focuses on conifers, although variety as possible. surrounding it was sold and separated from the track as it curves round to the right. we don’t just have conifers in our pinetum. Bedgebury National Pinetum many years The National Pinetum at Bedgebury started At the next junction, with a gate out After about 200m, at a T-junction with a ago. The house became a private girls’ school 11 life as Kew Gardens’ collection of conifers, 7 onto Park Lane visible on your left, bear shallow ditch across it, turn right. Follow until it was closed in 2006. It is now a private which was moved here in 1925 because slightly right and then left, to follow a the path as it curves through trees. residence. they couldn’t cope with the smog in London. wide grassy path going downhill towards a Ahead, on your right, you will see a large We still have a close working relationship The high wall you can see on your left is the sponsored bench (B17). Enjoy the beautiful group of monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria with Kew. Before that, the Pinetum was the Walled Garden, built between 1840 and 1870, view down to Marshal’s Lake. Continue down araucana). These are the tall trees with dark, pleasure garden for a big private house. and was the old fruit garden for Bedgebury to the bottom of the hill. spikey leaves.

2 3 North

To Goudhurst

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11 Churchill Wood 8 12 Marshal’s Lake 9 Forest Plots (site of trials and 13 future conifer Leyland conservation plantings) cypress hedge 15 5

10 Forest office B2079 The Walled 4 14 Garden Events arena Dwarf conifers 16

Juniper collection 17 Yew collection 18 Thuja Hill’s Avenue National Cycle collection Glory Hole Network Route 18

3 19 Lawson cypress collection

Lady Mildred's Carriage Drive 2 22 Leyland cypress collection 21 Hidden secrets 1 20 Education of the Pinetum Overflow area car park To the Visitor Centre Forest a walking trail by Ann Waller and John Gordon Main Entrance

To A21

To Play Trail and Go Ape When you reach the monkey puzzle There are toilets just inside the gate on your Shortly after the brick building, bear After a short distance you emerge 12 trees, continue ahead, keeping them right if you need them. 18 right and follow the grass path up a hill 20 from the trees into a clearing with lots on your right. After going through the gate, with the towards two benches. Pass them on of heather. Keep to the path across your right and continue uphill. You are now in the clearing for about 50m and turn right on The monkey puzzle tree was around in the time 16 toilets on your right, bear slightly left on the ‘Glory Hole’ area of the Pinetum. Almost to a grassy path going downhill. When you of the dinosaurs but is now endangered in its a narrow path heading towards a tall immediately take the path to the right and, come to a fork in the path, with a stand of homelands of Chile and Argentina. The pine tree in the middle of the path. Go shortly after, go up a few steps. Turn right Scots pine on your right, take the left fork of the monkey puzzle tree cannot be stored in around the pine tree and follow the path towards a bench under a large sponsored and carry on downhill (this grassy path can a seedbank, so the trees must be grown to be bearing slightly left. You will see our tree tree with exposed roots, called Pinus radiata be quite overgrown at times). At the bottom conserved. Bedgebury is a leader in this activity. nursery up on your left. (Monterey pine). of the hill, bear left over a stream and you The tree nursery provides a place where will reach a main surfaced path. This path is Following the path around the plots to This area displays glorious colour in 13 we can propagate seeds and trial different Lady Mildred’s Carriage Drive. the right, you will come towards a springtime due to the many azaleas and group of eucalyptus on your right. Do germination techniques. In 2011, these facilities were upgraded thanks to a £42,500 grant rhododendrons. This area was once an old Lady Mildred’s Carriage Drive was originally go closer to see the dramatic pale, peeling quarry and tip! the carriage drive entrance to Bedgebury bark close up if you like. When the path from the Friends of Bedgebury Pinetum. Bedgebury’s nursery has been successful in The large Monterey Pine is a sponsored House, stretching all the way from the A21 at bends round to the left, carry straight on Flimwell. It is an avenue of Lawson cypress keeping the eucalyptus on your right. germinating seeds from some of the world’s tree… take a look at the dedication on the most threatened trees species. Bedgebury was label. Many people sponsor trees or benches named after Mildred, wife of Sir Alexander Nearly all eucalyptus species are evergreen. the first place in the world to successfully raise around the Pinetum, and all the donations Beresford-Hope, in 1883. As with other members of the ‘myrtle’ family, the Vietnamese golden cypress from seed. received support the conservation work Go straight across Lady Mildred’s eucalyptus leaves are covered with oil glands. Although the nursery is out of bounds to the undertaken on site. 21 Carriage Drive and walk uphill on the The copious oils produced are widely used in public, periodically the Friends offer nursery mown grass path. As you walk uphill, perfumes and medicines. Walk up and over the rooted incline to tour events. Please join us at one of these if 19 the left of the sponsored tree. From stop at the sponsored bench in front of you After about 150m, at the 5-way path you want to know more about Bedgebury’s here you will see the path straight and turn around to look at the old, dead tree. 14 junction, turn right, then after 25m ground-breaking propagation work. across the valley leading into the trees Continue uphill. bear right. Continue across a small You will join a main surfaced path by opposite. From the incline, walk downhill to This old oak tree has reached the end of 4-way path junction and follow the path 17 our yew collection. Turn left. Follow the the wide grassy valley, called Hill’s Avenue. its life, however, as standing dead-wood round to the left. surfaced path for about 80m past the Cross it and bear left slightly uphill onto the it is an extremely important habitat for mown grass path that you saw from the You will see some beehives on your right. In fenced-in dwarf conifer collection on your wildlife. The Pinetum is a glorious landscape other side. Shortly the path divides. Take the addition to honey bees, Bedgebury’s flower- left, below the nursery, and past a brick containing several BAP (Biodiversity Action left fork. rich grassland and heathland supports at least building on your right. Plan) designated landscapes where we are 11 of Britain’s 25 species of bumblebees as well doing much more to promote biodiversity The common yew is one of only three conifers Hill’s Avenue is named after Sir Arthur Hill, as a wide variety of solitary bees. who was the director at Kew Gardens in and conservation than our work with native to the UK, the others being and conifers alone suggests. When we make Before continuing on your walk, can you find 1919 when Kew was seeking a new home Scots pine. Yew is a source of the anti-cancer decisions about how to look after the the ‘Honey Bees at Work’ sign that has been for its conifer collection. Hill was a keen drug Taxol. Bedgebury is home to the national Pinetum, we’re always balancing three placed a short distance away, near to point 15. botanist and taxonomist. Along with William yew collection; a comprehensive ‘living gene things: the wildlife, our visitors and, of bank’ of many of the garden varieties. Dallimore, the curator at Kew during that time, When you reach a 4-way path junction, he was instrumental in seeking a partnership course, the trees themselves. 15 turn left towards the Met. Office The brick building you are passing was with Bedgebury. At the top of the hill walk straight weather station for Bedgebury originally the dog kennels for Bedgebury 22 across and down the zig-zag path National Pinetum. At the next path junction, House when it was privately owned by the back towards the Visitor Centre. turn right along the fence, and after 50m Beresford family. turn left to retrace your steps towards the gate that you came through earlier and go We hope that you enjoyed our Hidden secrets of the Pinetum walking back into the Pinetum. trail. Why not return to the Visitor Centre now and enjoy a hot drink and a slice of cake in the Bedgebury Café!

6 7 This walk is also available as a downloadable PDF from our website. Visit https://bedgeburypinetum.org.uk/home/activities/free-fun/

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