Lynford Arboretum & Lakes

It was Christmas Eve and I needed to get the over-excited kids out to get rid of some energy. A perfect opportunity for an overdue visit to Lynford Arboretum and Lakes in Thetford Forest Park. It's about 1/2 hour drive from Bury St. Edmunds. We took the A134 from Thetford and turned right at the sign for Lynford, then left at the crossroads to get to the start of the forest walks.

We followed the 1 1/2 mile Blue Walk. The lake at the western end of the Zig Zag covert looked very peaceful.

We continued to the double rowed avenue of Sequoias, planted in the 1800s to honour the Duke of Wellington. Here the little ones had a race to the next markers of the blue walk. At the end of the avenue is Lynford Hall, now a hotel and conference centre, but we followed the walk round to the right. At the bridge ove the covert, though, we turned left to go around the main lake to the arboretum. Here we saw a cygnet with its parents.

The Hall (bulit in 1858) is over the other side of the lake.

At the eastern end of the lake we crossed the bridge into the arboretum. In the late 1940's, trainee foresters started planting the older trees that are now found in the Arboretum. Since then the Arboretum has grown and has over 200 tree species, with future plans to increase the collection. Every tree we came to Little W said, "What is that one called?". By reading the labels I was able to avoid saying "I don't know".

Here is some bamboo.

And yes, Little Miss and Little W are pretending to be pandas.

It was a good walk and not too muddy. We must come back in the spring and autumn to see the woodland flowers and autumn leaves.