Kedleston bluebells

Bluebell season is short, so it's necessary to make the most of it. The day after our trip to Calke, I decided to head out to Kedleston for another bluebell hunt. 

At Kedleston the bluebells are found along one of the paths we regularly take, the Short Walk.

There weren't at first many bluebells to be seen - but carpets of wild garlic, and garlic mustard growing round the trees, and blossom above us on the horse chestnuts.

We stopped, of course, at the viewpoint to admire the countryside, and talk to curious sheep, before heading on and finding bluebells at last.

We were a bit late in the season really, and brambles and nettles had grown taller than the bluebells but they still looked lovely.

There were anemones too, still flowering.

and this delightful small flower - purslane - which I've not really noticed before.  The individual flowers are tiny and easily missed but after spotting odd plants here and there, we were suddenly came across with a huge patch where they'd obviously spread uninterrupted..

This was my last bluebell jaunt of the year. It's getting too close to summer now, and I've still not managed to get back to Lea Bridge and its hillside covered in flowers, but that will have to wait another year now.