Yesterday was a beautful day – far too wonderful for spending inside! We found some woods to wander through and to my great pleasure, they were spilling over with scented bluebells and oxlips. What a place to lift the heart! Inside the woods, resonating blue; outside brilliant yellow. A fiesta for the senses.

Hayley Wood is an ancient woodland of oak, ash and maple, just off the B1046 between Longstowe and Gransden, first written about in 1251 when it belonged to the Bishop of Ely. It is bordered on one side by the old trackbed of the Cambridge to Bedfordshire railway line which operated from 1862 to 1967 (approx) with 5 trains running each way per day. The nearest station to the woods was Old North Road in Longstowe. It is hard to imagine the huge steam engines pounding past when one walks there in today’s tranquil.

Now this woodland is owned and maintained by the Wildlife Trusts who have put a fence around it to protect particularly the oxlips from browsing deer. (Yes, there are gates to get in and out…)

One particular piece of history to be noted here is the crash of a Lancaster R-Roger – JB219 on Black Thursday, the night of the 16/17th December 1943 as part of the Battle of Berlin. 21 aircraft of 97 Squadron had been sent off from Bourn airfield to attack the German city despite warnings of adverse weather. Things went fairly well for them, with just one aircraft lost, until the planes returned to England where they encountered low and dense cloud. It became a disastrous night for the squadron with 8 aircraft lost in total and 28 deaths, victims of the English fog not the enemy. The Lancaster piloted by James Kirkwood was unable to land at Bourn and so tried to come down at Gransden Lodge, but instead crashed at the perimeter of Hayley Wood with the loss of all crew. A memorial plaque at the edge of the woods was dedicated to the crew in September 2007.

So, a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon, beautiful bluebells, ambles through the Cambridgeshire countryside and history for contemplation. We started off at East Hatley and walked through the fields to get to the wood, to enjoy a little more of the fine spring sun. For smaller children there is a lovely worksheet called Walks on the Wildside to keep them entertained, ticking off the plants and animals that they spot in the Hayley Wood. What more can one want?


View Larger Map