Bramcote - Bramcote
Hills Park - Part 02
w/e 25 May 2008
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
In Part 1 we saw the site
of Dairy Cottage and as we approach the northern end of the Walled
Garden the footings of Gardener's Cottage are also visible. One
of the original park buildings - it was shown on the 1880 map
- it was later used by Broxtowe Borough Council's Leisure Services
Division. The path through the middle of the walled Garden continues
beyond the arch and then turns to follow a way-marked route up
the hill into the wooded area. The grassy bank between the garden
and the trees is being managed as part of the "Blue Butterfly
Scheme" which promotes the creation
and restoration of wildflower meadows. It contains many varieties
of wildflowers to encourage not only butterflies but a wealth
of other wildlife too.
This side of the arch two Field Maple trees have been planted
and plaques sunk into the turf show that they commemorate the
life of the Queen Mother 1900-2002 (left) and Golden Jubilee
of Queen Elizabeth II on June 3rd 2002 (right) respectively.
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From about half way along the Walled Garden another path also
leads up into the wood and this one passes the Ice House. Before
the days of refrigerators and freezers, ice houses were used
for the storage of food and this one at Bramcote, that was built
prior to 1880 from locally sourced stone and brick, has recently
been restored to reveal its unique features which are detailed
on the adjacent information board.
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It was a third path though that we followed through the woodland
around the foot of the hill. Some planting has taken place in
the wood but much of it is natural woodland with many broad-leaved
trees. Management of the wood is done in conjunction with Nottinghamshire
Wildlife Trust.
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The
path we followed leads to a clearing where Bramcote Hills House
had stood from when it was built in 1805 until 1966. The footprint
of the building has been restored and another information board,
sadly defaced (left), describes the history of the house and
its owners. From the vandalised board I was able to salvage this
photo (right) of a view of the house in the early 1940s.
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Bramcote Hills House overlooked from its slightly elevated position
the lower reaches of the park which is more open in appearance.
A recent addition around this lower level is the Trim Trail,
a series of wooden obstacles and equipment that enable people,
in conjunction with a "Getting Active" leaflet available
from the Council, to exercise and improve their fitness. The
strategically placed park bench looked more inviting to me though!
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The open parkland includes a number of significant mature trees
including several species of oak plus sweet chestnuts, common
beeches, walnuts and at least one cedar of Lebanon (that you
may have spotted overlooking the Bramcote Hills House site).
In recognition of the high standards of maintenance and community
involvement the park received its first Green Flag award in 2006,
an achievement it has since repeated.
Back to Part 01
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