Travel Dine Relax - Spring 2022

BLOOMING MARVELLOUS

BEST PLACES TO EXPERIENCE SEASONAL FLORALS AROUND THE GLOBE

As the spring season finally breaks free of the grey winter months, it’s no surprise that colour and nature grab our attention. Not only here in the UK but around the globe, seasonal blossoms are drawing attention from travellers looking for a connection with the natural world or grabbing an eye-catching shot for that must-have social pic. For destinations, spring displays can be a welcome draw for tourists after a long winter season.

We look at some of those fancy florals creating a stir around the globe.

TULIPS

Each year many travellers head to the Netherlands to absorb themselves in the colours and history of the Dutch bulb fields. The flower fields are open throughout the year and provide a tapestry of seasonal blooms to get inspired. The Netherlands produces 1.7 billion cut flowers per year, representing roughly 6.2% of global trade and making it the Silicon Valley of the flower industry. This export represents an annual revenue of 6.2 million euros.

Probably one of the most famous locations for tulips is the Keukenhof, the most famous and largest flower park in the world and just a short distance from Amsterdam. The best time to visit is between April and May, and the Keukenhof opens its doors during this time to create the biggest flower park in the world.

Divided across various gardens and pavilions, the tulips and other flowers number in the millions. Each year, Keukenhof has a different theme, meaning that returning guests are always treated to a unique display. Keukenhof attracts over a million visitors every year – an impressive amount considering the part is only open from mid-March to mid-May.

If you’re planning a visit, then keep your eyes peeled for Flower Bulb Sheds. Due to the increased scale of flower bulb companies, no more than 400 out of 1500 flower bulb sheds remain, but they have become Dutch industrial heritage property and can be seen dotted around the landscape.

TOP IMAGE : Red Tulips in the sun at the Euromast in Rotterdam

BOTTOM IMAGE : Two cyclists near a red tulip field in South Holland

TOP: (left) image: Blossom at Brogdale (right) Pear blossom at Cotehele in Cornwall courtesy of the National Trust Image by Ross Hoddinott

BOTTOM: New Zealand Lupins

APPLE BLOSSOM

Since the Roman occupation, apples have been cultivated in the UK and are thought to originate from the Middle East. Now firmly established in the UK, their heritage and popularity can still be seen in the orchards around the UK.

The home to the National Fruit Collection, each year, Brodgale’s orchards brim with acres and acres of stunning blossoms. The National Fruit Collection preserves both fruiting and ornamental trees making it popular for a spot of spring blossom watching. When the flowers appear, visitors can make the most of this beautiful time of year by participating in an Orchard Tour. Their Spring Blossom Tours programme will start from the 1st of April and run throughout April & May (excluding the Easter Weekend). brogdalecollections.org

LUPINS

From mid-November to December, the New Zealand landscape becomes awash with lupins. While this invader from North America is viewed as problematic to New Zealand’s native species and landscape, they provide an eyecatching opportunity for blossom watchers. They can mainly be found in large numbers growing along roadsides, wideopen areas and near waterbeds.

The Mount Cook National Park, Lake Tekapo, Lake Wanaka and Isthmus Peak Trails offer a great vantage point for viewing the purples, pinks and yellow spires of colour.

PEAR

Cotehele is a Tudor property and gardens nestled down in Cornwall and benefits from a mild climate. Due to its location, its orchards are often among the first in the country to bloom. The Tamar Valley was once a famous area for market gardening, with hundreds of acres of blooming orchards in spring. Today this tradition is preserved at Cotehele, where you’ll find orchards full of famous Tamar Valley Prunus ‘Shirotae’, which bursts into bloom in the middle of the tennis court.

The best time to visit for spring flowers is between March and May, but if you miss the pear blossoms at Cotehele, then the gardens provide a wealth of colour and inspiration throughout the year. nationaltrust.org.uk/cotehele

HAWTHORN

Hawthorn is a common hedgerow plant that provides a pop of colour during the spring while providing small round fruits and autumn leaf colours later in the year. It’s a hardy plant, thrives on a range of soils and exposed landscapes, and provides shelter for native animals and birds.

The Vile is an area of ancient farmland at Rhosili, where National Trust rangers and volunteers are working to restore historic boundaries and create new habitats for wildlife. A big part of this work has been planting new hedgerows with native species like blackthorn, hawthorn and crab apple.

These new hedgerows will provide homes for wildlife, and a walk in spring will be a treat for the eyes with displays of spectacular blossom.

image: Bright orange California Pobby (Eschscholzia) in the Antelope Valley, California, USA

CALIFORNIA POPPIES

The official state flower of California, these bright orange flowers make an appearance from Oregon down to Mexico. If you’re lucky, you’ll experience a “super bloom” when the landscape is awash with California poppies. Other years, they may not make as bold an appearance. It can be very dependent on how much rainfall there’s been, from too much causing the grass to outgrow the poppies or too little, meaning the flowers find it hard to sprout.

The best time to see these cheerful flowers is around mid- February or March, and they’ll typically remain until around April and May.

BLUEBELLS

A native wildflower, English Bluebells grow in pockets throughout woodland areas. Each year its blue bell-shaped flowers make a welcome appearance, although they can be early or late showers, depending on the weather and conditions.

A great place to see bluebells is Wakehurst in Sussex, the home to the Millennium Seed Bank and set in 500 acres. A popular time to visit for spring blooms is April, but doublecheck their website as you will need to pre-book a time slot for garden visits between the 2nd to 24th of April. kew.org/wakehurst

Alternatively, a visit to your local wood provides an excellent opportunity to search for bluebells, but remember to avoid trampling or picking any that you find.

DAFFODILS

These cheerful trumpeted flowers are common throughout the UK, from the countryside to our cities, they herald the arrival of spring. A recent visit to St James’ Park, London, provided a plethora of blooms that brightened up our walk. Their city’s oasis of colour made a welcoming sight and a vivid contrast to the buildings around us. The love of daffodils has resulted in several projects around the UK. One of these is The Newport Daffodil Days Festival, which celebrates with over 1,200,000 daffodils around the town during April. This includes swathes of flowers planted as part of their daffodil fields and events such as the Tour des Jonquilles - a bike ride past the daffodil fields, Driving Miss Daffodil where car owners don their daffy best on their cars, and Green Animals Topiary garden with curated tours among 11,000 daffodils. newportdaffydays.com

MAGNOLIA

Magnolias made an early arrival in Cornwall this year with six champion Magnolia Campbellii trees in the Great Gardens of Cornwall revealing their first fifty blooms. This is up to a month earlier than the rest of the UK according to The Great Gardens of Cornwall team. To celebrate reaching 300 blooms, The Great Gardens of Cornwall partnered with local florist Anna Sawle to create a flower arch adorned in bright Cornish flowers and topped with delicate magnolias. The spectacle was positioned at Truro Train Station on the 1st of March to celebrate the start of spring and mark the first day of Magnolia month – a key time to spot blossoming magnolias across the country.

Japanese geisha with Full bloom Sakura - Cherry Blossom at Hirosaki park in Japan

The Great Gardens of Cornwall is a collection of thirteen of the best-known, largest, most historically and horitculaturally important gardens in Cornwall including: Antony Woodland Gardens, Bonython Estate Gardens, Caerhays Castle Spring Gardens, the Eden Project, Lamorran Gardens, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Trebah Garden, Tregothnan, Tregrehan Garden, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Tresco Abbey Garden, Trewidden and Trewithen. greatgardensofcornwall.co.uk

CHERRY BLOSSOM

One of the reasons why people in Japan have admired cherry blossoms for centuries is that their mesmerizing appearance never fails to return and inspire hope every spring.

Tohoku offers unique views of cherry blossoms in serene natural settings, typically with abundant space to relax and immerse yourself in a magical ambience.

The 10-to-14-day period where the pale pink blooms move northward gradually from Okinawa in the south to Hokkaido in the north over a few weeks starts in March. This period normally falls in late March through early April for Tokyo and Kyoto and early April through early May for Tohoku. So, it is possible to start your cherry blossom hunt in Kyoto or Tokyo, move up to the northeastern region and enjoy this famed Japanese springtime tradition in both urban and rural settings.

Hirosaki Park, in Aomori Prefecture at the northern end of Japan’s main island, Honshu, is well worth the top spot on any bucket list for a forever-lasting memory of a once-ina-lifetime hanami experience. With some 2,600 carefullypruned cherry trees surrounding the 17th-century Hirosaki

Castle, its moats and the red-coloured bridges over them and with Mt Iwaki, reminiscent of Mt Fuji, in the background, this park is lauded as one of the most beautiful cherry blossom spots.

The Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival is held annually between April 23 and May 5, when over 2 million visitors visit the spacious and diverse park. The 492,000-square-metre park offers various ways to enjoy the festivity: you can take a stroll through cherry blossom tunnels, admire petal filled moats, picnic under raining petals and row a rental boat in a blossom-lined moat.

Cherry trees at Hirosaki Park originate back to 1715 when the Tsugaru clan requisitioned 25 Kasumizakura cherry trees from Kyoto and planted them in Hirosaki Castle, present-day Hirosaki Park. The cherry trees continued to grow with the help of citizens, and by the early 20th century, the castle had become surrounded by splendid cherry trees. Today, the park is owned by the city of Hirosaki, and has 50 different types of cherry, including Somei-Yoshino (Yoshino), Shidarezakura (Weeping Cherry), and Yaezakura (Double Layer Cherry). For more details of the various Tohoku cherry festivals visit their website tohokukanko.jp/en/index

However grey the weather is this Spring, we hope that this splash of colour and celebration of flora brightens up your day or provides some inspiration to get outside and explore.