The Daffodil Weekend
Oxenhall
Oxenhall is a
small village situated in the north of the district, renowned for its wild
daffodils. Every year Oxenhall is host to its annual Daffodil Weekend in
March, taking in amazing woodland walks. The Dymock Woods site comprises Dymock
Wood, Daw's coppice, Betty Daw's Wood and Colonel's Grove.
Betty Daw's
Wood is a large ancient woodland best known for its spectacular show of wild
daffodils but it also contains a wealth of other plants and animals such as the
wild service tree, small-leaved lime and rare wood white butterfly.
Kempley
The village, apart from the Daffodil Way, is probably best known for the Kempley Tardis, a redundant telephone
box, containing local information and walking maps of the area (one house in the village has a real Tardis!)
St Mary's
Church, Kempley has in its chancel "the most complete set of
Romanesque frescos in northern Europe", some created as early as 1120. On
the walls of the nave are further images, including a wheel of life, showing
the life cycle of man. These are worked in tempera painted on dry lime mortar,
unlike those in the chancel which are true frescoes. The Church has the oldest
roof of any building in Britain, dating from 1120-1150 and has an unusually
well-preserved interior.
The Church
of St Edward built in 1903 was described by Betjeman as "a
mini-cathedral of the Arts and Crafts movement", built from local
materials and local labour. The church was planned by the Lord of the Manor and
major landowner, William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, because St Mary's was
too far away from the main centres of population in the parish at Kempley Green
and Fishpool, and liable to flooding. The walls of the church are in Forest of
Dean red sandstone.
 |
| time for a well earned rest |
before ending where we began the daffodil way, at Dymock. As last year we shared tea and cake with the owners of vintage Morgan V-twins.
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