Bugle and and buttercups
Information board for Bruddel Wood, just off Marlborough Road (click on photo to enlarge for information)
At the bottom of the Lawns, beech nuts already on the trees
Bruddel Wood - nettles
One of Swindon's best kept secrets - Bruddel wood*******
This morning I met my good friend Elaine in Old Town; the plan was to walk from Old Town to Coate Water and back avoiding roads as much as possible. Although Elaine lives in Wroughton she hadn't actually walked around Old Swindon that much so it was a pleasure to show her Swindon's hidden beauty; here's where we walked.
We started of at the ever tranquil Lawns, walking down to the bottom of the woods, turning right we then picked up Bruddel woods (which are probably an extension of the Lawn wood). A corridor of ancient woodland running parallel with Marlborough road; today just lovely, the nettles stood high, the birds singing and we met no one else . We came out by the notice board (pictured above) and walked along the busy Marlborough road for a hundred or so metres, then crossed over into the the Polo Grounds. This took us into the Coate Tree Collection which Elaine had not seen before; a peaceful place, today the lilac was still out, one day it will be a magnificent arboretum and is already a place Swindon can be very proud of.
We stopped by the cafe at Coate for a drink then continued along the shady avenue of trees to the back of Coate. Leaving Coate we turned right into Broome Manor Lane and walked about two hundred metres to pick up the footpath around the golf course. Made our way to Piper's Lane, crossed over into a woody area, got a little bit lost, walked round in a pleasant circle back to where we started, then made our way up to the Great Copse (Croft wood); back up through Croft Sports Ground to Old Town.
