If you go down to the woods today… even if, say, you’re not feeling quite well, and have a sore throat, and a temperature, and aren’t quite sure it’s worth getting out of bed at all, and if you choose to go to the Wenallt, just on the northern edge of Cardiff, about a two-minute drive from the quiet suburban homes of Rhiwbina, you will be rewarded for your effort with the sight of a most stunningly beautiful patch of native woodland, enjoying its finest hour.
As you get out of your car (and I will assume you are in a car, as it is the more likely, and the effect I am about to describe is more sudden, and correspondingly description-worthy), the first thing that will strike you is the fragrance…
of a million bluebells. As you glance across the small clearing where your car is parked, and into the woods themselves, you will begin to see them. Or rather, you will see a purple haze at ground level where they cover the entire wood. I have to say, I have seen quite significant patches of bluebells in woods before now and been very thrilled by them, I have imagined myself to be in that object of romantic contemplation, “a bluebell wood”. Well now I know that I was laboring under a benign delusion: I never saw a bluebell wood till yesterday.
So, now, for as long as I’m in Cardiff, I will make sure to come here every year, and view them, rather as the Japanese do hanami – cherry blossom viewing – engaging in which activity has long been a personal fantasy of mine (cherry blossom is an ongoing fascination). Cherry blossom itself will wait for now, though perhaps not that long either, since I have an old friend in London who informs me that there is plenty of cherry blossom to be seen in Bermondsey (and I am reminded that I knew this had at least been true in the past, from Pepys’s diary, where he strolls along the Thames at Bermondsey, through cherry blossom orchards, and I further noted the fact that my Bermondsey friend does indeed live beside the river, in “Cherry Orchard Road”).
But it’s a wonderful thing to be able to seize the beauty that is here, and close at hand, rather than gazing at the blossom forecasts for Tokyo, and Nara, and all the rest. So here’s to one of the finer things in Cardiff: a tranquil, fragrant bluebell wood, no more than a couple of miles from the heart of Wales’s capital, yet still quiet and gently-used even on a pleasant bank holiday weekend. Perfect, right in the Here and Now.
(by email)
These photographs are breathtaking! I never saw anything like this when I lived in England, though I did a good number of gorgeous woods and countryside views. Thank you so much for posting this, and I do hope you’re feeling much better soon!