Westonbirt Arboretum Autumn Colour

For the first time ever, we went round Westonbirt to see the autumn colours.  A few of the trees had dropped many of their leaves already, but it was still spectacular despite being cold and damp.  The Arboretum is a ‘must see’ that we’ve promised ourselves for years and somehow never quite got around to.  It’s a marvellous place one might easily spend a week in just looking at the trees, or maybe become bored stiff in just a couple of hours.  For us a full day was not enough, and we plan to do it again next year.

Today was probably the last day this year to see the autumn colours because it will rain this weekend and probably knock off the rest.  31st was also our 49th Wedding Anniversary, so well worth the luxurious Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Bed & Breakfast and Arboretum Tickets package offered by the excellent Close Hotel in Tetbury (with its street full of antique shops).

I’ve taken maybe ninety photos, many of which will have something wrong, but some could be great, and some have personal significance (for example we have a hedge of Lawsons Cypress - told in 1971 “they won’t grow too tall” - and some of the Lawsons in Westonbirt are gigantic.)

I’ll add a couple of the best pictures once I’ve had time to edit the collection. 

It was just as well we took the Mazda3, the overflow field we parked in was almost a quagmire (already a very busy week), and in the tight and fiddly traffic we negotiated it is much more flexible than the NC, and has better visibility in the wet and dark.

One of our favourite places we have visited, sadly we haven’t been for a few years. The weather girl (BBC TV) was there this week bringing the forecast.
We used to plan our Autumn getaway to coincide with the arboretum colour in Autumn, staying in the Cotswolds in our caravan days, that ceased (the caravanning) when we swappad the van for a Mk1.

Best time of the year for walks we reckon.