The end of April continued warm and sunny, and bluebells were already flowering, so off to Calke we went to explore.
The Serpentine Wood is the place to find Calke's bluebells, and is best, in my opinion, approached from the 'Calke Explore' playground area as the flowers face that direction and appear bluer. So we stopped at the car park there, and headed straight for the higher part of the wood where the bluebells grow. It possible to walk from the main car park at Calke but we thought our route might be shorter - I'm not actually sure that it was.
The second part of our day was spent in the walled garden where the wisteria was flowering and the orchard in blossom.
Through the doorway the lavender-edged path leads through the kitchen garden to the orchard - a gorgeous place to sit in the sunshine, especially at this time of year with the trees in blossom.