Bluebells at Clumber Park

'For me, the word 'bluebell' signals that spring is underway with a shimmering blue carpet overhung with fresh green foliage. At Clumber Park, they usually look perfect for St. George's Day.' - Christopher Margrave, head gardener at Clumber Park

The appropriately named 'Bluebell Wood' at Clumber Park is transformed in springtime. The carpet of intense blue under the opening tree canopy is one of our greatest woodland spectacles. 

The traditional early flowering of bluebells makes the most of the sunlight that reaches the woodland floor before the woodland trees cast their shade. Millions of bulbs may grow closely together in one wood, creating one of nature’s most stunning displays.

Bluebell Wood is one of the most iconic places in the UK to view and photograph bluebells.

A few bluebell facts
 

• Archaeological evidence has shown that Bronze Age people used bluebell glue to attach feathers to, or 'fletch', their arrows
   
• Bluebell sap was used to bind pages into the spines of books
   
• According to folklore, one who hears a bluebell ring will soon die. A field of bluebells is especially dangerous, as it is intricately interwoven with fairy enchantments
   
• Bluebell bulbs were crushed to provide starch for the ruffs of Elizabethan collars and sleeves
   
• Bluebells are important early flowers for bees, hoverflies and butterflies which feed on the nectar
   
• Bees can 'steal' the nectar from bluebell flowers by biting a hole in the bottom of the bell, reaching the nectar without pollinating the flower

"How the merry bluebell rings to the mosses underneath..."

- Alfred Lord Tennyson, "Adeline"